Ruler of the Sky
by Ichigo Oga
Summary: AU. After a failed kidnapping attempt on the Orimura twins during the second Mondo Grosso championship, one decided to be an IS engineer while the other decided to be strong enough to prevent an incident like the kidnapping from happening again. Who knew a rabbit's theory would cause shit to hit the fan?
1. Blue vs Gold

"Talking"

_'Thinking'_

**IS Unit Name**

[IS Equalizer]

_[IS AI reports]_

* * *

"Everyone's here, right? Then let's start the SHR (student homeroom meeting)~!"

Earnestly smiling at everyone, the vice-homeroom teacher Maya Yamada, having introduced herself beforehand stood in front of the blackboard. She had short green hair with matching colored eyes and wore glasses. While around average height, she had a rather voluptuous figure and very large breasts despite her petite stature. It didn't help that she was wearing a revealing yellow sundress with short sleeves and knee high boots- it made her seem childish or close to her students' age.

Ichika swept his eyes over everyone and met his younger twin- Madoka's eyes. He wasn't the only one who thought that Yamada-sensei looked childish.

"Then everyone, let's get along with each other over the next year~!"

Ichika and Madoka cringed internally at the awkward atmosphere as nobody reacted.

"Now, let's move on to self-introductions. Mm, we'll go by seating arrangements." Despite her rather cute panicking state, Ichika couldn't find himself to do something. How could he?

Ichika was the only male student in the class.

_***Jiiiiiii~***_

He could practically _feel_ the gazes of all the girls- except Madoka who was trying her hardest not to laugh- in his class.

'_Why was I placed right in the front middle row of the class?'_

His extremely unmistakable upper body continued to be noticed even though he didn't want it to. He discreetly glared at his twin who only smirked at him.

Madoka then stood up and faced the entire class with her arms crossed behind her back, shoulders straight, chest puffed outwards and her chin slightly raised. "I am Madoka Orimura." Her voice boomed around the class like a drill sergeant and straightened everyone up. "I am Japan's Representative Candidate; however don't give me any kind of special treatment because of that. I too am a student here just like you. Thank you." She sat down and everyone clapped their hands.

Ichika internally approved of her introduction. _'This will likely help her become either the Class Representative or grant her a position in the Student Council.'_

Madoka then mouthed to him: "Your turn."

Ichika glanced around the classroom and nodded at her as it didn't seem like a prank to him. He stood up and took a relaxed stance, though a select few like Madoka could tell that he was ready to leap into action should anything go wrong. "I am Ichika Orimura. Older twin of Madoka here. Other than being the only male IS pilot, I'm nothing special." He shrugged. "That's all."

Several girls collapsed on to the ground as he sat down as if expecting more.

"Oh yeah…" Ichika drawled perking the girls up and said, "…I'm a certified IS Engineer and designed my own Personal IS." Madoka looked satisfied.

"Ohhhh!"

"_That _is all." This time everyone clapped with the exception of a blonde who was glaring at him. It didn't go unnoticed by the twins but dismissed her from just one look.

The classroom door opened up and walked in an older and mature version of Madoka clad in black tight fitting skirt, tall and slim, the body line of someone who doesn't look muscular even after lots of training- a slender voluptuous body without any trace of fat and large breasts- and her sharp slim phoenix eyes remind everyone of wolves.

No doubt about it. She was Chifuyu Orimura, the elder sister of the Orimura twins and apparently the main homeroom teacher of Class 1-1.

Madoka petulantly crossed her arms and clicked her tongue grumbling about the world being unfair. She was petite and quite _muscular_ for a girl her age.

"Looks like you two managed to do proper introductions." She said with crossed arms looking serious as ever.

"Ah, Orimura-sensei… is the meeting over?" Yamada-sensei meekly asked creeping closer to said person.

"Ah, Yamada-sensei. It's been tough on you, forcing you to make them introduce themselves."

Ichika and Madoka squinted their eyes at their sister who was talking in an unexpectedly gentle tone with her childlike assistant.

'_Who the hell is this?' _was the coordinated thought shared between the twins.

"No, it's nothing… as an assistant homeroom teacher if I can't even do that…" Yamada-sensei replied meekly shuffling her feet and tugging at her sundress while shortly glancing at Chifuyu.

'_What are you? A kid asking her parents for permission to play?'_

"Everyone, my name is Chifuyu Orimura, and my duty is that for this one year, I'll be training you in the operations and controls of IS. Everything I teach, you have to remember, and understand. To those who can't understand, I'll teach them till they can. My job is to thoroughly train you during your first year, from the age of 15 to 16. You can dislike my attitude, but you still have to do what I say. Understood?"

'_Is she declaring war or what?'_

Despite Chifuyu's harsh tone, no one seemed scared or intimidated. Instead, there were shrieks of joy with the exception of the Orimura twins (who facepalmed and groaned).

"Kyaa! It's Chifuyu-sama, it's the real Chifuyu-sama herself!"

"I've always been your fan!"

"I came to this school from North Kyuushuu because I admired you, onee-sama!"

"I came all the way from southern Hokkaido!"

"I'm so happy to be taught by Chifuyu-sama!"

"I'll gladly die for Chifuyu-sama!"

Chifuyu stared at the chattering girls with a disheartened expression. "...it's really quite a sight to see so many idiots gather here every year. What a surprise. Or is there a special reason? Are these fools only here to attend my class?" She really looked disappointed at them. "And they are supposed to be the _future_." Ichika and Madoka winced.

'_Even with money it's impossible to buy popularity of this scale you know?'_

"KYAA! ONEE-SAMA! SCOLD US MORE! CONTINUE TO SCOLD US MORE!"

"BUT BE GENTLE TO US FROM TIME TO TIME!"

"AND BE EXTREMELY ELEGANT AFTERWARDS~!"

"Eh...? Then, it means that Orimura-kun and Orimura-san is Chifuyu-sama's younger brother...?"

'_You realized that now?!'_

"Maybe that has something to do with Orimura-kun being the only guy in the world that can use the IS?"

"Ah~ Great. I really wanted to switch one of them over."

Ichika and Madoka groaned and slumped over their tables. _'Three years of hell…'_ They would've cried if not for Chifuyu slamming her clipboard on their heads. "OW! WHAT THE HELL NEE-SAN?!" Both of them yelled pressing a hand against the bumps on their heads. "You killed 5000 brain cells of mine! Give them back!" Ichika protested only to be hit again _on the bump_ creating another smaller one. "There… goes an…othe…r 5000… argh!" Ichika sat down nursing the bumps.

"Call me Orimura-sensei you idiots!"

"Yeah yeah Orimura-sensei." Madoka waved her off… "OW!" …only to be hit again on the head.

"Behave." Chifuyu growled making the twins shrink in their seats. She scoffed and started the class.

* * *

The IS Academy was, as its name suggested, an educational corporation meant to nurture IS operators. The Japanese government saw it as a principle duty to fund it and run it. However, the results of the research were revealed to the entire world due to the common agreement, and at the same time, Japan had no right to either remain silent or hide them. No matter what happened in this school, the Japanese government had to intervene fairly, and had the obligation of settling those matters under the premise that all the countries in the treaty have agreed upon. The school had opened its doors to foreign students without any conditions, and the Japanese government was to provide protection- as accorded to the contents of the IS treaty regarding IS pilot training agencies.

That was the school's code of discipline.

Basically, it was like- "Damned Japan, creating the IS and causing chaos in the world, the very least you could do build a school to train individuals in this area of expertise. And hand over your research and technology. Ah, and you will be bearing all the financing costs!"

* * *

"Oh my, SHR is over. Everyone, I'll have you memorize the basics of IS within the next 6 months. After that, it's practical, you must let the basic maneuvers sink in as a part of your body's instincts within half a month. Alright? If you understand, answer me. Whether acceptable or otherwise, respond to whatever I announce."

'_A demon…'_

Despite being personally trained by Chifuyu herself, this side of her was truly something new and unexpected for the twins.

Either way, Orimura Chifuyu was the first generation IS pilot that represented Japan, and was undefeated in an actual match. Before the revelation of Ichika being the first and only male IS pilot last year, she announced her retirement and focused completely on training the twins and taking the job of teaching at IS Academy. Not that she didn't train them before, she knew about Ichika's ability of piloting sometime after she returned from Germany with Madoka and that was more than two years ago.

* * *

Ichika and Madoka almost fell asleep during the first theory class of IS. Ichika _knew _everything about IS, being mentored by _the _Tabane Shinonono in IS Engineering had its perks. Madoka on the other hand had some knowledge on the IS, enough to get a perfect score on her first year's final exam. And so…

"Orimura!" The twins jerked and stared at their angry sister with wide eyes. "Ichika! Since you're an IS Engineer and know enough to be drowsy in my class, how about you take over?"

Ichika rapidly shook his head. "Nonononono! I'm sorry! I won't fall asleep!" Madoka nodded from beside him.

"START EXPLAINING THE ALASKA TREATY YOU FOOL!"

"YESSIR!"

"IT'S YES MA'AM!"

"YES MA'AM!"

...and thus Ichika had to teach the entire class in the first period.

* * *

The Alaska Treaty was the treaty that came into effect after the debut of the Infinite Stratos (IS), which effectively banned the usage of IS in the military.

Countries were essentially prohibited from employing IS in any kind of armed conflict. However, possession of IS as military-grade units were allowed since they are the only means of deterring and defending against possible armed aggression involving IS.

All information and technology related to IS must be disclosed to the world and shared openly. Any further R&D (beside the initial batch of technology information provided by Tabane Shinonono) was put under same restriction upon its actual field-testing, but if the field-testing of newly-acquired technology was done inside IS Academy, the researchers/developers were allowed to keep their technology confidential.

Exchange of IS cores was prohibited under any circumstance.

Japan and its government were responsible for creating an integrated IS pilot training facility which was required to accept any and all admittance of pilot candidates from any foreign countries, provided they were endorsed by a legitimate government body or foundation. The Japanese government would take appropriate action to ensure that the balance of IS pilots in the world was kept in check. Essentially, the Japanese government was forced to fund and maintain such a facility without any external support.

The treaty banned deployment of IS in armed conflicts, but as this so called 'treaty' tended to lose its effect during a war (especially for the losing side), every country ended up building up their own IS force inside its military, which functioned as an effective deterrence to prevent involvement of IS.

The treaty also specified all information and technology related to IS be made open to the world, so no one country would monopolize the technology. As a result, every country in the world- at least the wealthy ones- could study and commence Research-&-Development of IS.

The IS core is- in its essence- the IS itself, because the frame without the core was merely an inanimate object. The core was responsible for every function of IS, from power supply to operation of all abilities such as articulation of frame, barrier, sensor, and weapon.

Only Tabane Shinonono had the knowledge of core creation, and so far she has created 467 of them, but recently began to refuse the creation of additional cores and had gone into hiding. She was currently at the top of international wanted list. Scientists were also unwilling to risk taking apart the core, for fear of it irreversibly losing its function.

Trade of any kind involving IS core was prohibited under 'Alaska Treaty', and existing 467 cores were evenly distributed in a general sense throughout the world to maintain power balance.

The rest of world's scientists kept their R&D, and while they were still unable to recreate the core yet, they became able to 'process the core,' which means they could transplant existing cores into newer, more powerful frames they developed. As such, while the total number of cores remained unchanged 10 years into the IS's debut, the IS itself faced major development, undergoing several generation shifts.

* * *

"Scary…so scary…!" Ichika shivered in his seat while Madoka rubbed his back sympathetically. Once the first period ended and the break started, Chifuyu left the classroom with Yamada-sensei after shooting a glare at the twins that said: "It's not over yet!"

"Don't worry Ichi-nii… I'm pretty sure I'm next…" Madoka looked ready to cry.

"Uuuu…!"

* * *

Incidentally, while the IS institute was a profit-earning business, there was also education about IS, that made up the daily courses.

Apart from Ichika, everyone was a girl. Not only his class, but everyone in the school.

Incidentally, once the news that Ichika was the only male able to pilot an IS had also spread throughout the world, everyone knew about him, from the people of the school to the students.

Even though the IS Academy was the world's only specialized IS school, a lot of schools with the intention of stimulating their students, enter them in the IS study program, so they could take advanced studies.

And those types of schools were 100% all-female. However, in the end, the girls from such schools had almost no immunity against males, and as for the boys in a normal society, there was a dilemma about their status.

The number of IS pilots in a country had a very close relationship with its military force (a credible defense force). Only girls could be pilots, so all the countries involved in the 'Alaska Treaty' created a prioritized female protection program.

That's why, because the ideology that 'woman=great' was accepted, the last ten years women had become considered superior to men.

When suddenly an equal 'man' had appeared, it was obvious that there would be curiosity first.

Becoming the object of the entire country's girls' admiration, along with being titled Orimura Chifuyu's little brother seemed to make things very complicated for Ichika. Madoka- as sad as it sounds- got brushed off aside by the others because of him; but she didn't mind. She hated attention just like her siblings and it was also fun seeing her older twin suffer.

* * *

"...Thus, the basic operations of IS have to be guided by the country. If no permission is granted, we have to pursue criminal responsibilities..." Yamada-sensei continued with her lesson eloquently. Luckily, Madoka wasn't called to carry out the lecture as it seemed that Yamada-sensei had somehow managed to cool Chifuyu down. "Whether it's in terms of mobility, firepower or suppressing ability, the IS far surpasses all the older weapons in that aspect. If you don't understand this weapon 'thoroughly' before operating it, accidents will occur. We teach you basic knowledge and train you to prevent such accidents from occurring. Even if you can't understand, memorize it, and remain strong and steady. These are the rules and regulations." She finished just in time for the bell to ring and signify the start of the break between two periods.

"Excuse me, may I have a moment?" The girl who asked had light blue eyes and long, light blonde hair that formed drill-like curls at the ends, along with a royal blue headband that held her hair up. She was beautiful, and had large breasts and a voluptuous figure. Her uniform was slightly modified, as it had a long skirt instead of a short one, and there were black frills at the end of the skirt and sleeves.

Ichika and Madoka both looked at the girl standing between them. Ichika raised an eyebrow and said, "Yes you can." Madoka snorted at the angry frown on the girl's face.

"What are you saying?!" She deliberately increased her volume gaining the attention of their classmates. "Just with me talking to you should be enough to make you feel greatly honored. Shouldn't you have a better attitude towards me?"

"It should be the opposite."

"Let's see you improve that attitude!"

Madoka's retort was ignored.

Ichika sighed. This was the type of people he hated to interact with. A stereotypical arrogant snob. He turned away from her and literally waved her off. "Shoo shoo. I have no interest in talking to spoiled brats." The whole class snorted and laughed at the gobsmacked face of the girl.

"How dare you speak to me to me like that?!" She exclaimed furiously. "You don't know who I am?!" She didn't realize that Ichika had tuned her out facing forward with a bored expression much to everyone's amusement. The girl placed a hand on her chest and continued, "I am Cecilia Alcott. The Representative Candidate of Britain and the top scorer in the entrance exam!" She then noticed that Ichika wasn't paying any attention to her and turned red in anger. It was even worse that her classmates were snickering in the background. "Are you even listening to me?!" She was ignored. "And you!" She rounded on Madoka who was snickering right behind her. "Stop laughing!"

Before she could continue, the bell rang snapping Ichika back to attention and the teachers returned to the classroom. Cecilia made a noise in the back of her throat and stomped back to her seat.

* * *

"For the remaining time, we'll mainly be describing all sorts of equipment that can be used in actual combat, and their characteristics."

Chifuyu replaced Yamada-sensei, who taught the second period lesson, as she stood at the front. It seemed important, as even Yamada-sensei took out a notebook.

"Ah, but before that, we have to decide on the class representative who'll take part in the inter-class tournament." She paused and noted everyone paying rapt attention to her- even her annoying (read: adorable) younger siblings. "The class representative is as its name indicates. The class representative will not only compete in the tournament, but will also attend student council meetings and committee meetings as well. Well, you can consider it like a class leader. On a side note, the inter-class battles are meant to gauge each enrolled class' ability. Though there isn't much difference right now, competition will encourage further improvement."

"Sensei!" The twins raised their hands and pointed at each other. "I recommend Ichika/Madoka!" They then glared at each other.

"Yes! I recommend Orimura-kun!"

"Me too! I feel like it's a good idea."

"Orimura-san can also be a good representative!"

"Both of them has Personal IS, and Orimura-kun designed his one himself!"

"Then the candidates will be Ichika Orimura and Madoka Orimura. Is there anyone else? You can either nominate yourself or another person, both are fine." The class remained silent. "Alright. Then we'll vote between the two of them. The one with the highest votes will be elected as the Class Representative."

"Wait a second! I don't want this!" The twins exclaimed standing up.

"Sit down! You're a troublesome sight! I said that no matter whether you nominated yourself or someone 'else' nominated you, the one nominated doesn't have the right to refuse. The one nominated should be prepared already."

"Hold on a minute! I can't accept this outcome!" Cecilia slammed her hands against the table as she got up. She pointed at the twins and continued, "I can understand Madoka Orimura being nominated as she is Japan's Representative Candidate, but I can't accept him! Having a man as our class representative is totally disgraceful! Do you expect me, Cecilia Alcott to endure this embarrassment for a whole year?"

Chifuyu and Madoka twitched.

"In terms of ability, it's obvious that Madoka Orimura or I should be the class representative. It'll be troubling if some rare far-east monkey is to be chosen because he is a rare breed! I came to this island country to polish up my IS skills, and I have no interest in joining a circus!"

Chifuyu and Madoka twitched again.

"Isn't that right!? Only the most talented can be the class representative, and Madoka Orimura or I am the most suitable one!" She was getting excited, and her choices of words were getting cruder and more anger-driven. "In the first place, living in such a country with an underdeveloped level of culture is excruciatingly painful for me-"

"Even if Britain's a great country, you're far too arrogant on your part, aren't you? How many times has it been now that you've won the world's worst cuisine award?" Ichika retorted glaring at Cecilia. "And besides, IS was created in this country. Moreover _I _designed and sold the blueprints of **Blue Tears** and **Silent Zephyrs** to your country for 12 million pounds. **Blue Tears** costed a meager two million and **Silent Zephyrs** for ten million." Gasps of awe resounded in the whole class while Cecilia gaped in astonishment. Ichika's crimson eyes glinted maliciously filling Cecilia's body with a cold sensation of dread. "Didn't your country get raided recently and _lose Silent Zephyrs to a group of terrorists?_"

Cecilia's eyes widened to their outmost limit and she stumbled in shock. _'How did he know?!'_

"How do you know that information Orimura? That's classified." Chifuyu asked with a frown.

"Taba-nee." Ichika deadpanned at her like it was the most obvious subject.

Chifuyu rolled her eyes and grumbled. "Of course it would be her."

The class on the other hand broke into harsh whispers occasionally pointing at Cecilia.

Said person gained her composure back and seethed. "Are you insulting my country?!"

Madoka rolled her eyes. "No shit Sherlock!" The class laughed at the jab at Cecilia's country further enraging the girl.

"THAT'S IT!" Cecilia slammed her hands on the table silently wincing as her palms stung. "It's a duel! I'll show you who's best!"

Madoka outright laughed at the girl. "Just how stupid are you girl? Didn't you hear what he said? He designed your sad excuse of an IS and sold it to your country." She sneered. "Do you have _shit _for brains?" Cue Chifuyu's clipboard hitting Madoka's head. "Ack!"

"Language!" Chifuyu then looked at Ichika and asked, "Do you accept the duel?"

Ichika shrugged. "Might as well show a worm its place." Steam poured out of Cecilia's ears. "How much of a handicap do you want shit-for-brains?" He ducked dodging the clipboard that hit the girl behind him. "Sorry." He winced apologizing to the girl.

The girl gave him a lopsided grin and a shaky thumbs up. "D-Don't worry Orimura-kun! It's an honor being hit by Chifuyu-onee-sama."

Ichika sweat-dropped. _'What's with these people?'_

"You talk big. Since you deliberately asked for defeat, I'll accept you as a servant- no, a slave!"

"Don't look down on me. This is a serious showdown, don't try and do it halfheartedly."

"Is that so? Perfect timing, this will be the perfect opportunity for me, Britain's candidate, Cecilia Alcott to display her ability."

"Again, how much of a handicap do you want?"

"Oh my, asking for a favor so soon?"

"No, I'm asking how much of a handicap I should give you."

Normally the class would've burst into laughter, but it seemed even they knew instinctively that Cecilia would lose. After all, a creator knows the weakness of their creation better than anyone else.

"Then I won't give you a handicap." Ichika said after receiving no reply from the girl.

"Yes, that should be the case. More accurately, it bothers me that I don't have to give you a handicap. Hmm hmm, saying that men are stronger than women, Japanese males really have quite a sense of humor." The excitement of hers died down, though her expression was one of contempt.

"You can still back out whatever-your-name-is, you know?" Madoka asked pitifully looking at Cecilia.

"Are you looking down on me?! A Representative Candidate?!" Cecilia indignantly asked. "And it's Cecilia Alcott!"

Madoka rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah whatever-your-name-is."

"Then, we have a common understanding. The battle will take place next Monday in the 3rd arena. Orimura and Alcott, make sure you are well prepared. Now, let's get back to the lesson."

Chifuyu clapped her hands to end the conversation.

* * *

It could be said that Ichika was in a living hell. He went to the cafeteria, and all the girls were following behind him- much to Madoka's amusement. And when he went to the canteen, the situation was like Moses splitting the sea, and he ended up in a blank slate situation.

'_Am I some mystical animal who only just arrived at Japan for the first time?'_ Ichika thought as he trudged behind Madoka towards their shared dorm room. Luckily he and his twin was in the same room instead of different rooms with different roommates.

The IS Academy was a boarding school, and the school required all students to live on the campus. Most likely, this was to protect the IS pilots who had unlimited potential. Those individuals were integral to the future defense of countries. Ever since this school started, there had been a few countries who have tried to tempt them, which wasn't uncommon at all.

Chifuyu was the first year's dorm supervisor.

Once Madoka opened the door he entered the room behind her and dropped his bag on the side of the bed close to the window and leapt on it. "Omph!"

"I guess they really kept their part of the deal huh Ichi-nii?" Madoka commented. Their room was larger than those of other students. As in, it had its own toilet, a larger kitchen with fridge in it and laundry room with washing and drying machine. "Mind if I use the shower first?"

Ichika waved his hand. "Go ahead. And if possible, bring dinner for me here would you?"

Madoka shrugged. "No problem."

"Love you Madoka…" Ichika mumbled falling asleep.

Madoka softly smiled. "Love you too, Ichi-nii. Love you too." She decided to let Ichika sleep for now. She would wake him up after bringing his dinner from the canteen to their room.

They decided earlier that Madoka would cook breakfast and Ichika would cook dinner. For lunch, they would alternate between each other everyday, as in one day Ichika would prepare the lunch, the next day Madoka would. The two of them decided not to eat in the cafeteria as it would garner too much attention.

* * *

Wearing a cream color sleeveless sweater and blue shorts that revealed her powerful limbs and her IS' standby mode in the form of a sleek white bracelet on her right arm, Madoka entered the cafeteria and came upon Tabane's sister Houki Shinonono.

"Heya Houki! It's been a while!" Madoka called out making said person jump in surprise.

"Madoka?!" Houki gasped. "What are you doing here?"

Madoka rolled her eyes. "To eat dinner of course."

"Oh." Houki trotted alongside Madoka into the canteen and grabbed their respective dinner. "Where's Ichika?"

Madoka raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you think Ichika would be here at IS Academy?" She asked in a 'are you an idiot?' tone.

Houki scowled. "There are rumors flying around about him fighting against the Britain Representative Candidate."

Madoka scowled sitting down on an empty seat. "Fucking rumor mill."

"Language!"

Madoka rolled her eyes and indulged into her dinner. "Ichi-nii is sleeping. Today took quite a lot out of him." She said after a few moments.

"Why's that?" Houki frowned. As far as she knew Ichika, he was always strong and had greater endurance than her back when they were kids. _'Is he slacking off?'_

"No he's not slacking off." Madoka pointed out flustering Houki. "Due to Ichi-nii being a certified and famous IS Engineer, nee-san had him give the first period lesson."

Houki grimaced.

"That followed by nee-san's glare on the two of us _and _that British bitch's whorish whining tired him out."

Houki winced. Even she could tell how pissed Madoka was at the moment, so she kept her mouth shut.

"Houki." Said person straightened up in attention at the serious tone of Madoka. "What brought _you _here? You've always hated the IS and yet you're here." Houki scowled. "Let me guess, it was the government?" Houki's hiss was all the answer she needed. "At least tell me you have a Personal IS." Madoka sighed and shook her head as Houki scoffed negatively. _'She really needs to grow up.'_

"What's this about Ichika being an IS Engineer?"

"Hmm? He's been personally tutored and mentored by your sister. He rarely came home ever since he started learning about IS under her." It was true. In fact he barely attended middle school, only submitting the weekly assignments and giving the tests. Tabane took it upon herself to teach him _everything_, IS or not and Madoka could understand why.

Houki hated Tabane for childish reasons and denied every time someone associated her with Tabane. Thus Tabane couldn't shower Houki with her sisterly love.

Ichika on the other hand treated her just like he treated Madoka and Chifuyu- like his own sister. He admired her and Chifuyu but he didn't give them special treatment like the others did. He treated them like they were humans.

Chifuyu was against this at first as she didn't want Ichika to be that involved with the IS world but eventually gave in to his adorable puppy dog eyes- she was a bro-con, give her a break. It also helped that Tabane kept her craziness down around him and treated him like he was her own brother. Besides, Tabane _did _prevent Phantom Task from kidnapping the twins from their home, and if there was anywhere Chifuyu wouldn't be worried about them, then it was with Tabane and her hideout- wherever it was.

"If that is the case then why are you asking if I have a Personal IS?" Houki growled.

"Did you become dumber over the years Houki?" Madoka retorted as the two of them headed towards the former's room with Ichika's dinner in tow. "I said Ichika was personally tutored and mentored by your sister, not me. I don't know half the stuff they do even if she gave me my Personal IS. Now be quiet, bro might be sleeping." She unlocked the door and silently walked in.

"Pardon the intrusion." Houki mumbled trotting behind her. Once she properly entered the room she gasped. "Why is your room twice larger than mine?!" She harshly whispered. Madoka merely pointed at Ichika.

"He bargained with the government." She replied before gently shaking Ichika. "Ichi… Ichi…! Wake up! I brought your dinner!"

Ichika groaned and slowly sat up. "Dinner…?"

"Yup. And Houki's here too!"

"Hey there Ichika… it's been a while…" Houki shyly greeted with a blush making Madoka internally groan.

'_How could I forget about her obvious crush?'_

"Huh?" Ichika squinted his eyes then rubbed them. "Missus Scowl?" Madoka snorted as Houki scowled. "Oh it's you." Ichika deadpanned now fully awake. Before Houki could reply he continued, "It _has _been a while I guess." He yawned and stretched before standing up. He opened his bag and pulled out a knee length blue cotton pant and a yellow T-Shirt. "Sorry for troubling you Madoka."

"Meh, don't worry. It's what siblings do."

"Thanks." Ichika nodded and looked at the silently fuming Houki. He raised a hand pausing Houki from saying something and said, "Let me shower first. Then screech all you want." Without waiting for a reply he walked past her and entered the shower room.

Five minutes later Ichika came out of the shower ruffling his hair with a towel before letting it dry in the balcony under the Spring air. He then sat beside Madoka on his bed and took the plate of food she arranged for him. "Congratulations on winning the National Kendo Championship last year." He said startling Houki.

"How do you know that?" She asked defensively making the twins raise one of their eyebrows.

"I was there with Taba-nee."

"Why was _she_ there?" Houki growled making Ichika pause mid bite.

Ichika narrowed his eyes at her and drawled out, "Unlike _you_, she actually cares for you even though you _don't _deserve it." Houki flinched knowing what he said was true but said nothing. Ichika then finished his dinner and deposited the disposable plate into the trash can before cleaning up.

"Why did you stop coming to the dojo?" Houki suddenly asked.

"Had better things to do." Ichika replied knowing that it will tick her off the wrong way.

"Like hanging out with _her_?!" Houki snarled and Ichika's eyes flashed.

"It's not hanging out if I'm learning about IS from her. She did create it." Ichika pointed out. "Besides, she's family to me."

"And I'm not?"

"No." Ichika replied without hesitation jolting her like she was slapped. "If you were then you would've kept contact with me. You didn't." Madoka winced at her brother's harshness.

Houki looked down at the floor with tears brimming the edges of her eyes. _'He's right. I had his number yet I never contacted him.'_

"You didn't either." Houki said looking at him.

Ichika raised an eyebrow. "My schedule was packed to its fullest. I hardly slept for more than four hours. School, homework, IS Engineering, Chifuyu-nee's training and training with my IS…" he raised his left arm and showed the gold wristband. "Of course I would've made time for you if you called, but you didn't. You had what? School, Kendo and homework?" Houki flinched as she couldn't refute his claims. Ichika sighed. "Which class are you in?"

"1-3."

"I guess you know that we're in 1-1?" Ichika asked getting a nod. He looked at his IS' standby form and the wristband glowed showing time to be close to nine. "You should return to your room Houki. It's gonna be past curfew."

Houki nodded and silently left the room.

After a few moments of silence Madoka asked, "Weren't you a bit too harsh on her?"

Ichika looked at Madoka and she saw the sorrow in his eyes. "You should've seen Taba-nee's face every time Houki hang up on her 30 seconds into their call. Not to mention that Taba-nee is always the one to initiate the call." He still remembered how sad Tabane was and how she cried in despair regretting creating the IS. Ichika took a shuddering breath and said, "Let's sleep now. We have class tomorrow."

Madoka nodded and lied down on her own bed. "Good night nii-chan."

"Good night Madoka."

* * *

"In other words, the IS was originally created for space work, so the pilot is covered in a special armor. Also, the armor has the ability to increase body functions and keep the pilots in a stable state. This increases the heart rate, pulse, lung capacity, amount of sweat lost, endorphins-"

"Sensei, is that really alright? It's kind of scary when the body is manipulated like that."

One of the girl interrupted Yamada-sensei with an uncertain look on her face.

"It's not really that complicated. Oh yeah, for example, everyone's wearing a bra, right? If one has that kind of support, there's no reason that it will cause any adverse effects on humans. Of course, if it's not by your own measurements but out of shape, then-"

Coincidentally, Ichika's eyes and Yamada-sensei's eyes met, and she just stood there, dumbfounded. Several seconds later, she blushed.

"Well… that… no… that's… Ori-Orimura-kun, you have no need to understand that. I-I don't know. This example. Ah… ah ha… ah… hahaha..."

Yamada-sensei only laughed blankly, unknowingly creating a subtle atmosphere throughout the classroom. Madoka was holding her stomach as she loudly laughed, Chifuyu and a red faced Ichika facepalmed.

It took the other girls except Madoka- she passed out laughing- some time to realize the situation and immediately covered their chests as much as they could with their arms.

The awkward atmosphere ceased to exist after 20 seconds by a blank faced Chifuyu.

"Ahem, Yamada-sensei, please continue with the lesson."

"Ah, okay."

Under Chifuyu's prompt, Yamada-sensei returned back to topic even though it looked like she was about to bury herself in the book.

"And Orimura…" Ichika raised his head and met his older sister's eyes. "…take your twin to the infirmary."

"But I don't know where it is!" Ichika weakly complained already picking his smiling unconscious twin in a princess carry.

"Just keep searching for it!"

"Right!"

* * *

"…what's with her?" An uncomfortable Houki asked Ichika pointing at a giggling Madoka.

"Don't ask." Ichika mumbled red in the face. Houki had joined the twins on the rooftop during lunch break having cooked her own lunch.

Houki jumped when a laughing Madoka grabbed her by the shoulder. "Hahaha! Yamada-sensei was talking about us girls wearing bras _right in front of Ichi-nii_! Haha! You should've seen her face when she realized her mistake!" Houki paled in horror. "And then she herself started laughing! Hahaha!"

Houki looked at Ichika who nodded embarrassedly. "And she passed out laughing. Nee-san had me skip class by telling me to take this nutjob to the infirmary without telling me where it is." On the hindsight it was a good thing Chifuyu sent him out. The classroom atmosphere would've really been awkward.

"Your class is full of loonies…" Houki breathed out in a daze.

"Don't we know that!" Madoka laughed.

"Hey Ichika?"

"Hmm?"

"You said something about training with Chifuyu-san. What was it about?"

"Hmm… it was mainly physical conditioning, hand to hand combat, sparring with Madoka, using a sniper rifle without scope singlehandedly, a minigun too, fighting her with eyes and ears closed-" Houki dropped her jaw in shock. "-, free style counterattacking sword fighting in a three-way battle and fighting with a spear."

"You're crazy." Houki shook her head.

"It worked out though." Ichika said waving a hand over his body. He was well built, slightly bulky but mostly lean in musculature. He was tall standing at 5'10" and lost all the fat in his body including the baby fat on his face making him look older than is peers.

He started learning about the IS when Chifuyu and Madoka went to Germany for a year. That was when he was close to 11 years old. He found out his ability of piloting an IS a year later when he was 12. It was mainly a theory made by Tabane that he _should _be capable of piloting an IS considering whose brother he was. Tabane was proved right when he touched **Shirokishi** or **White Knight** and got 'eaten' by it.

Tabane had looked downright _gleeful _and suggested to modify the **Shirokishi** to his needs. It was then that he asked- rather meekly fearful of rejection- if she wouldn't mind creating a new core for him to use for his own custom designed IS. She was so surprised that she acted like a gold fish for several seconds nearly scaring Ichika of rejection. He was proven wrong when Tabane hugged him (read: shoved him into her cleavage) and readily agreed to create one when he becomes a full-fledged IS Engineer under her and designed his own custom IS.

Her agreement was all he needed to be motivated into learning IS Engineering.

Tabane had a good laugh at seeing Chifuyu's face when they revealed the truth about Ichika being capable of piloting an IS but ended up beaten black and blue courtesy off 'Chi-chan'. She returned back to full health the very next day much to Chifuyu's annoyance and the twins' wonder.

Chifuyu agreed to let him study IS Engineering under Tabane with the condition that he _must _get high grades in school. Tabane took it upon herself to teach him both IS and non-IS related subjects from then on. He never got less than 100 in any subject in school despite his absence.

When he hit 13, Chifuyu personally started training him and Madoka. By the time he became 14, he was already a billionaire having sold IS designs all over the world. That was also when Tabane completed making his IS and let him get used to it. He and Madoka both received there IS' at the same time. **Gigantis Dragon **for him and **Byakushiki**\- Shirokishi's upgraded form- for Madoka, 3rd and 3.5th generation IS respectively.

By the time high school entrance examinations came, both had achieved Second Shift much to Chifuyu's shock and Tabane's glee. **Golden Dragon Monarch** and **Byakushiki Setsura**. Both 4th generation IS, with the latter being the first and former being the second. Tabane later on banned them from sparring in her place when they destroyed the specially made training room the fifth time.

Chifuyu's retirement and Ichika's revelation both were announced by Chifuyu herself. Ichika was requested by the government to go to IS Academy- to gather data on him- which he accepted under several conditions.

"Mind sparring with me today at the Kendo Club dojo then?" Houki's question snapped him out of his reminiscing.

"Sure, why not?" He then grinned. "I get to defeat the National Champion that way."

Houki scoffed. "As if!"

Later on at the end of the day, Houki had to be sent to the infirmary while Chifuyu scolded his very soul out.

Orimura Fan Club was created the next day and surprisingly, the teachers except Chifuyu allowed it to be created.

Ichika regretted coming to IS Academy.

* * *

"So? What do you think I should use against shit-for-brains?" Ichika asked as he swiped through the list of equalizers on the holographic screen coming out from his IS standby mode in the form of a golden wristband.

"Hmm… on one hand, you can defeat her in her own game by using [Fafnir] and on the other hand, you can defeat her using [Yamata-no-Orochi]." Madoka replied as she eyed two out of four equalizers.

"Using [Yamata-no-Orochi] will prove that sword and CQC in general is better than guns and long range weapons, but…" Houki replied as she read the specifications of **Blue Tears** on another holographic screen. "…considering how her character is… defeating her in her own game _should_ teach her a lesson and humiliate her." She frowned. "Just use [Fafnir] and finish her quickly."

"Yep. Do that." Madoka nodded. "But don't bother using your One Off Abilities."

"That would be overkill." Ichika grunted.

"One Off Ability?" Houki asked in confusion.

"It's an ability unique to an IS normally gained in the Second Shift. Ichika had one immediately from the First Shift and gained another in Second Shift. I have only one." Madoka explained.

The three of them were currently in the hangar waiting for the match to start. Just as they were done discussing, they heard footsteps and looked in the direction to see Yamada-sensei and Chifuyu coming towards them.

"Oh? You came here to support me?" Ichika asked in a DIO like manner only to duck as Chifuyu's clipboard flew over his head. "Woman, are you trying to make me lose or what?!"

"Shut up. Five minutes are left until the match starts. Deploy your IS." Chifuyu grouched.

Yamada-sensei on the other hand looked at Ichika with anticipation clearly showing in her eyes.

'_She wants to see my/his IS…' _Ichika and Madoka thought before the former walked away from them to deploy his IS.

"Rule over the skies… **Golden Dragon Monarch**!" In a flash of gold Ichika was inside his IS standing at a height shorter than an average IS.

Chifuyu nodded and Madoka grinned, pride visible in their eyes. No matter how many times they saw the IS, every time felt like first time; the IS was _that _beautiful and aesthetic.

Houki and Yamada-sensei had similar reactions. Their eyes were wide and ready to pop out while their lower jaw rested in a small crater on the ground. Yamada-sensei's glasses were tilted and on the verge of falling down.

Standing before them in all their glory was Ichika and his IS. Just as the name sounded, the primary color was gold and the frame heavily resembled that of a dragon. Ichika's whole body was covered in sapphire blue and silver draconic scale mail. His head lacked a helmet but instead had a silver metal headband that dipped down into a V in front of his forehead with a blue visor covering his eyes. His ears were covered by two headphones that were connected to the headband slightly behind the two hornlike protrusions on the sides of the headband. His lower jaw was framed with a mouth guard of sorts with two canines beside his lips.

The IS armor covered his arms slightly above the elbows and legs slightly above the knees. The armored arms and legs were draconic with sharp scales covering the back of the forearms and, the shins. The fingers were sharp and clawed, while the toes of the boots had three talons instead of being sharply pointed.

The unit's primary color was gold with the secondary color being sapphire blue and tertiary being silver.

Behind Ichika was a hemisphere. Two wings originated from the upper corners of the hemisphere divided into four segments. Each segments had a portion of their top colored silver with two blue stripes on the sides. The wings were two meters in length. A long tail originated from the center bottom of the hemisphere.

Floating behind Ichika were seven hexagon shaped blue energy shields forming a large hexagon.

"Behold…" Madoka said with a grin snapping Houki and Yamada-sensei out of their daze. "…the second 4th generation _Custom _IS, the **Golden Dragon Monarch**!"

Yamada-sensei and Houki gasped. "4th generation?! The world recently released 3rd generation _p__rototypes_!" Yamada-sensei said in astonishment.

"The second?"

"Who do you think I am?" Ichika scoffed. "I am the apprentice of Tabane Shinonono and the brother of Chifuyu Orimura! I am an IS Engineer with knowledge directly drilled into my brain by the former. So obviously I'll make an advanced IS!"

Yamada-sensei gaped at him and Houki scowled at the part where her sister was mentioned.

"My **Byakushiki Setsura** was the first one. Both of our IS became 4th gen in their Second Shift." Madoka answered Houki.

"Two 4th generation IS… and both of them has undergone Second Shift…? Uuuu…"

_***Thud!***_

Chifuyu sighed and picked the unconscious Yamada-sensei up. "Get going! Your match is about to start!" She yelled at Ichika before glaring at Madoka and Houki. "You two! Either go to the stands or come with me to the control room!"

"Right!" The three youngsters replied at once.

"Ichika! Win this!" Houki said as Ichika leaned forward getting a nod from him.

"Make this match yours Ichi-nii!"

With another nod Ichika flew out of the arena and met Cecilia in her IS **Blue Tears**.

"Oh? So you didn't run away?" Cecilia said with her sniper pointed to the side and a hand on her hip radiating princess vibes. "I'll give you one last chance." Cecilia moved the hand that was on her hip and pointed her index finger at Ichika as she said that.

"Chance?"

"It's obvious that I'll be winning no matter what. Thus, if you don't want to end up being seen in a battered and pathetic state, I may as well forgive you if you apologize now."

Ichika snorted. "As if that's happening." He raised his arm towards her and in a flash, a sapphire blue futuristic sniper rifle with triangular barrel and nuzzle appeared attached to his right arm and shoulder. It was lacking a scope and since the match had already started, he immediately pointed at Cecilia and fired.

Cecilia's IS warned her about the incoming danger and she responded by trying to dodge the attack. Keyword being 'tried' as before she could even move, the fin like armors that held her BITs on her left were blasted to pieces throwing her off balance.

_[Barrier Penetrated: 93 points. Shield Energy remaining: 557. Damage to frame: low to moderate. Warning: Do not move at high speeds.]_ Cecilia's IS reported as she righted herself. _[Scanning enemy IS.] _When her IS reported its scan, all color seemed to be drained out of her face. _[IS Unit: **Golden Dragon Monarch** (Second Shift), 4__th__ Generation, All-Rounder Type IS. Armaments: Fafnir- a long range plasma sniper rifle mixed with a rail gun. Other armaments unable to be found.] _

'_What?! A 4__th__ generation?! I'm using a 3__rd__ generation _prototype_ and he's using a 4__th__ generation _All-Rounder _type IS?! A _Second Shift _at that! Is this a joke?!'_ Her lack of attention on her opponent costed her as the sniper rifle in her right arm exploded not only cracking the armor but half-numbing her right arm itself in the process. "OW!"

_[Barrier Penetrated: 123. Shield Energy remaining: 434. Damage to frame: moderate to high. Warning: Do not stress the right arm.]_

"EYES ON YOUR OPPONENT SHIT-FOR-BRAINS!" Ichika yelled this time _charging_ up a powerful shot.

Cecilia seeing this swiped her good left arm and sent out her remaining two BITs and created a makeshift shield in front of her blocking both side's views of each other. Her 'skirt' lifted up and two missile pods came out, missiles ready to be fired.

"NO USE!" Ichika yelled using both arms to aim [Fafnir] and fired. A thunder crack was heard as the bullet left the gun piercing straight through the BIT shield and hit the energy shield of **Blue Tears** creating a massive explosion that ate up all of the remaining shield energy of **Blue Tears** activating Absolute Defense Barrier and granting victory to Ichika.

A buzzer sounded ending the match. "Match concluded. Winner: Ichika Orimura. Match duration: 3 minutes 19 seconds."

'_What…?'_ Cecilia blankly thought as she felt numb. She didn't even notice Ichika carrying her to the ground to prevent her from crashing on to it. _'I… lost…?' _She couldn't even _aim _at him in the entire match. Her BITs and sniper rifle were destroyed like they were _nothing_. _'I, Cecilia Alcott, lost to a man…?'_ Those were are last thoughts before she passed out from the shock and shame of having her pride reduced to bits.

* * *

"Haha! Well done Ichi-nii!" Madoka cheered once Ichika returned to the hangar. "You showed whatever-her-name-is her place! You didn't even let her take aim!" She looked ecstatic.

"Hmph! It was obvious Orimura would win. A third rate pilot like Alcott was never a match for him." Chifuyu commented.

Houki winced. If a Representative Candidate like Alcott got called a third rate pilot then what did that make her?

"That was so amazing Orimura-kun!" Yamada-sensei cheered with eyes shining like stars. "You finished the fight so quickly without getting hit even once! That's magnificent!" She clapped making Ichika blush and stutter.

"Uh… y-yeah… t-thanks Yamada-sensei… ahem."

"You're welcome!" Yamada-sensei _glowed_ making Ichika cover his eyes and blush deeper.

Seeing Ichika's reaction to Yamada-sensei made Madoka and Chifuyu adorn deadpan expressions. _'Ugh… I'm gonna puke…'_ the sisters thought simultaneously. Yamada-sensei _just _happened to fall in their brother's strike zone. Innocent, shy, under 30/older than him, cute, beautiful and mature. Even worse, the woman wasn't even trying to be any of those.

"You said something about his IS being _custom_. What did you mean by that?" Houki asked Madoka ignoring how Ichika and Yamada-sensei looked to be in their own world.

"It's exactly as it sounds. Only two IS in the entire world are custom made, as in the creator of IS made the IS _specifically _for that one pilot. No other pilot will be able to use that. Nee-san's **Kurazakura** and Ichi-nii's **Gigantis Dragon **now **Golden Dragon Monarch** are the only custom made IS' in existence."

"What about yours?"

"Mine? My one is the **Shirokishi** rebuilt in **Byakushiki** now **Byakushiki Setsura**."

"I see…" Houki muttered before walking away seemingly contemplating something. "Congratulations Ichika." She absentmindedly told Ichika before heading towards her dorm room.

No one cared enough to stop Houki and ask what was wrong.

* * *

The hot water continued to spurt out from the shower head. The water landed on her skin and flowed down the curves of her body. Her voluptuous body that was rare among Caucasians and her beautiful streamlines, to Cecilia, were something to be really proud of. Those long legs were shiny, silky and beautiful, and they could not only compete with those of an idols, but would most likely even beat them in beauty.

Cecilia continued to let the water rush down her breasts as she pondered deep in thought.

'…_Ichika Orimura…' _She still remembered the guy with those strong-willed eyes unlike her father._ '…Daddy would always go according to mommy's whims...' _

Having married into a wealthy family, her father must have felt extremely inferior to her mother. And having such a father during her growth, Cecilia inadvertently thought, _'I don't want to marry such a useless man.'_

And after the IS was rolled out, her father's attitude got increasingly sulkier. Her mother must have felt that such a man was a disappointment, so she didn't want to talk to him.

Her mother was already an impressive woman. Before the society became a women-strong-men-weak society, she had already managed numerous companies, and was an accomplished person. Though she was extremely strict, Cecilia had always respected her a lot.

Her parents died in an accident 3 years ago.

Her parents- who had been working separately- were together on that particular day, up till now, she still didn't know the reason.

Though there were once rumors of some conspiracies, the scenario of that accident removed that possibility. It was a cross-border railway accident with more than a hundred causalities.

Just like that, her parents became people who won't ever come back.

After that, time flew.

Cecilia had a vast inheritance, and in order to protect the money from those who wanted to laud it, she studied hard to learn everything, and during an IS suitability test that was part of her learning curriculum, she got an A+ grade. Hoping that she would maintain her nationality, the government came up with all sorts of generous conditions; and in order to protect her parents' inheritance, she immediately agreed. Cecilia was chosen to be the first test pilot of the 3rd generation armament **Blue Tears**. In order to obtain operation information and battle experience, she came to Japan, and then she met Ichika Orimura; she met the ideal man who had such firm looking eyes.

Ichika Orimura, brother of the two times Mondo Grosso champion, 'Brunhilde' Chifuyu Orimura and also of the current Representative Candidate of Japan, Madoka Orimura.

He was strong and _powerful_, that was undeniable. He had _dominated_ the match. In 3 minutes 19 seconds- the first minute was wasted necessarily with her talking arrogantly-, he defeated her without a scratch. He wasn't useless either. Her sponsor confirmed the fact that **Blue Tears **indeed was Ichika Orimura's design. He was a certified _and _famous IS Engineer directly mentored by _the _Tabane Shinonono. He was also ruthless. He never gave her the window to make a move against him. In _three _solid shots, she was defeated. He was also a genius if he not only designed his own IS but make it a freaking 4th gen.

"Ichika Orimura…!"

She tried to shout his name out. Unbelievably, she could even feel her chest heat up. Her heart was pounding without any restraint. Cecilia gently stroked her lips. Those pretty, wet lips stirred an unbelievable excitement like they desired to be touched. Warm and sweet, saddening yet delighting.

'_What's with this feeling?' _Before she knew it, her chest was already overwhelmed with this feeling.

'_I want to know.' _She wants to know its true identity, she wants to know what's behind this feeling. _'…I want to know. I want to know… about Ichika…' _

Only the sound of water flowing echoed throughout the bathroom.

* * *

"Ichika-san…" Ichika and Madoka both blinked hearing Cecilia call out to him before the SHR using his first name of all things. Both of them turned their heads in eerie synchronization towards her.

"Yes…?" Since the Brit was showing signs of respect, he might as well do the same no?

"I… I wish to apologize to you." She _bowed_ to him. The class had gone silent after that. "Yesterday… I've reflected upon my actions and realized that I was being childish, arrogant and condescending to you simply because of a past grudge and misunderstanding. Which is why I'm apologizing to you for treating you wrongly during class and battle."

There was stunned silence for a while before Ichika stood up and looked her in the eyes.

"I must apologize too Alcott-san." The class gasped and Madoka nodded in understanding. "I also shouldn't have let your taunts get to me and call you names. Which is why…" he bowed flustering her. "…I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too." Madoka said following Ichika. "I also shouldn't have acted like that. It was rather unbecoming of the Brunhilde's siblings. So yeah, I'm sorry Alcott-san."

"Ah… no no… please don't bow… it's okay!" Cecilia awkwardly said. "Apologies accepted."

The twins straightened up and smiled. "Water under the bridge, then?"

"Water under the bridge."

The three smiled and shook their hands starting a new friendship…

_***TWHACK! THWACK! THWACK!***_

"SIT DOWN YOU IDIOTS!"

…only to be simultaneously get scolded by their homeroom teacher.

* * *

**I hate Byakushiki. Don't look at me like that! I have my reasons! As Chifuyu said, "IS is defective." Byakushiki more so than the others is the very **_**manifestation **_**of the word 'defective'. A full on assault type with low shield points and a fucked up One Off Ability is just plain bullshit. Imbalanced! I hate imbalance. That's why I'm giving this shit to Madoka and creating a **_**far better **_**BALANCED OP IS for Ichika. **

**The IS frame of Golden Dragon Monarch is the same as that of Divine Drag-Ride Bahamut from Unlimited Bahamut Chronicles (UBC); except that the color scheme is different- Gold, Sapphire Blue and Silver instead of Back and Red- the visor, mouth guard, claws and talons, and draconic scale mail armor are new. The frame of its First Shift: Gigantis Dragon is up to your imagination. **

'**Fafnir' is the Freezing Canon of Divine Drag-Ride Fafnir from UBC. 'Yamata-no-Orochi' will be a sword but I haven't decided which kind of sword I should use.**

**And **_**please**_** do NOT ask me to add Houki into a harem I'm not even sure I'd be making. Cecilia and Rin are a big NO. If I make this a harem story then the candidates are: Maya Yamada (highly likely), Charlotte Dunois, Laura Bodewig, Tatenashi Sarashiki and Kanzashi Sarashiki (low probability).**

**I don't do Incest.**

**Who can guess the other two weapons other than Fafnir and Yamata-no-Orochi? Hint: One is from UBC and the other is from Celtic myths. **

**The One Off Abilities will also be from UBC. Guess them.**


	2. Clash of Dragons

"Talking"

'Thinking'

**IS Unit name**

[IS Equalizer]

_[IS AI report]_

* * *

"Today we'll have a practical session on IS flight maneuvers." The demon named Chifuyu Orimura said standing in front of the class in a white track suit. "Orimura. Alcott. Deploy your IS and show us a demonstration."

"Which one?" The twins asked in sync while Cecilia deployed her IS in a flash of blue and floated slightly above the ground.

"Both." The demon replied making the two look at each other.

"Why don't you deploy yours?" Madoka asked.

_***BAM!***_

"GET TO IT!"

"RIGHT!"

In twin flashes of gold and white, the twins deployed their IS. Ichika's one was shorter than Madoka's as his one was 7'9" in height while her one was 8'8".

All Personal IS stood at a height range of 8'3"-9'2". The only exceptions were the **Shirokishi**\- which got rebuilt into **Byakushiki** going from 7'7" to 8'3"- and **Golden Dragon Monarch**\- which was bigger in the First Shift standing at 8'9".

**Golden Dragon Monarch **despite its draconic frame was more humanoid in size and shape similar to **Shirokishi**, as a result was also well-suited for indoor combat.

**Byakushiki Setsura** on the other hand had slightly grown in height but became bulkier with its wings becoming bigger and longer with the addition of four large wing thrusters. Its left arm was bigger than the right as it had a particle cannon fitted onto the palm with the fingers turned into claws and an energy shield with [Yukihira Nigata]'s One Off Ability.

**Blue** Tears stood at a good 8'6".

"Let's go Madoka." Ichika said making Madoka look down at him due to height difference.

"GET TO IT ALREADY!"

"WAAHH!" Both of them screamed in fright and shot up going past Cecilia surprising her as she was already accelerating upwards.

"Hmph!" With a grunt Cecilia covered the distance between the three and took the spot on Ichika's right with Madoka on the left. Taking a good look at the IS, she frowned. "Now that I take a closer look, your IS seems to be quite small compared to ours."

Ichika nodded. "It was quite surprising for me too. In its First Shift, my IS was slightly bigger than Madoka's **Byakushiki Setsura**."

"You know what Cecilia?" Madoka twirled midair and flew on Cecilia's right. "You're lucky you fought him in his Second Shift instead of the First Shift." She shook her arms in an imitation of a limp noodle and continued, "After every sparring sessions, at best I'd have _some _feelings in my arm and at worst I'd be a limp noodle."

Cecilia gasped. "Oh my! Why so?"

This time Ichika answered. "My IS in its First Shift was called **Gigantis Dragon**. It was brute force given manifestation. So imagine yourself without an IS being sucker punched by a gorilla and you'll understand."

"I've never been so much relieved than the day he underwent Second Shift and _shrunk_." Madoka butt in. "Even though I underwent Second Shift first, I barely managed to deplete three-fourth of his energy shield. And it was right after that that he underwent Second Shift." She smiled. "Seeing him shrink I couldn't help but laugh believing I could defeat him." She shuddered. "Then I got smashed _hard _by him. His Second Shift purely focused on speed, agility, dexterity and mobility all the while holding that damned brute strength of his accursed First Shift."

"Then I guess it was like being hit by a Cheetah with the strength of Gorilla no?"

"That's right!" Ichika laughed at the analogy. "Though don't be sad and grumpy Madoka~ you did win several of our spars didn't you?"

"50/35 on your favor does _not _seem a good result!" Madoka snapped at him. "And only five of my victories among those 35 were against you in your Second Shift! Seriously! You were more like an annoying fly than a dragon."

Ichika's IS roared startling Cecilia.

"Wh-Wha-What was that?!"

Ichika rolled his eyes and scowled. "You had to go and piss her off hadn't you Madoka!"

"P-Piss her off?"

Madoka's IS hummed back loudly in response.

"Our IS in a way are… _sentient_. We can communicate with the AI in the core and sometimes they seem to display their… _feelings _like this manner."

"Feelings?"

"_Orimura! Alcott! Show me a rapid descent, then deactivate your IS. Target altitude is ten centimeters!" _

"We'll tell you later." Ichika said before diving straight down in an instant, stopping exactly ten centimeters above the ground and then deactivating his IS.

'_Fast!'_

"Last one buys lunch!" Madoka tapped her shoulder before diving down repeating what her brother did.

"Eh?"

"_WILL I HAVE TO INVITE YOU HERE OR WHAT?!"_ Chifuyu roared into her channel.

"Eep!" She dropped like a stone barely managing to flip and stop. "Scary!" She whispered pressing a hand against her beating heart under her chest.

"Don't worry. We know how you feel." Madoka said with an awkward smile.

Cecilia whimpered.

"Orimura!"

"Yes!"

"Bring out your weapons!"

"Roger!"

Deploying their IS again, the twins instantly summoned their weapons in bright flashes. Madoka summoned the [Yukihira Nigata] and Ichika summoned [Yamata-no-Orochi].

[Yamata-no-Orochi] was a daisho pair of a tachi (a longer version of katana and shorter version of odachi) and longer than average wakizashi with high frequency silver blades. Their golden guards were circular with eight dragon heads and the handles were blue. There were small hollowed-out portions at the base of the blades near the back edge which seemed to glow with blue energy.

"Good." Chifuyu nodded in approval and turned to Cecilia. "Alcott!" said girl squeaked. "Bring out yours."

"Y-Y-Yes ma'am!" Cecilia stammered and saluted deploying her IS. She raised her hand to shoulder level and held it to the side. In a flash of light she was holding her sniper rifle [Starlight Mk III]. She then nervously looked at Chifuyu waiting for comment.

"Good." Chifuyu nodded making Cecilia grin. "For a third rate pilot that is." Cecilia's grin fell. "Stop using that pose, the gun is aimed sideways when you bring it out. You could hit someone like that. Learn to bring it forward."

"B-B-But f-for my ima-"

"Change it. Understood?"

"Y-Yes…"

Madoka and Ichika frowned. "Orimura-sensei…go easy on her. Not everyone is borderline superhuman like you or us." Chifuyu gave them a look that said: "Watch this."

"Now bring out your melee weapon Alcott."

Cecilia nodded and her sniper rifle dissolved into light which swirled and stagnated in the air. Cecilia herself looked confused.

"How much longer?"

"Soon!" Cecilia grunted. "Goodness gracious! [Interceptor]!" She yelled out in frustration making Chifuyu look at the siblings with a "See?" expression. Bringing out a weapon by calling out the name was considered to be something for beginners, and Cecilia was an IS Representative Candidate. So it was understandable for Chifuyu to call her a third rate pilot.

"That look a lot of seconds. Is your enemy in battle going to wait that long?"

"I-I wouldn't let them get close in a real battle! It won't be a problem!"

"Really?" Chifuyu crossed her arms narrowing her eyes. "What if your opponent was faster than you? Like Ichika?"

"…"

"Thought so too." She then looked at her watch and clapped her hands. "Time's up! Orimura! Take turns every day after school and train Alcott until she improves, got it?"

"Roger!"

* * *

After school, the entire class threw a small inauguration party for Ichika once he returned with Madoka from after school IS lessons with Cecilia.

"So, congratulations to Ichika for becoming the class representative!"

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

_***POP! POP! POP!***_

'_Yay…' _Ichika internally deadpanned lightly clapping with everyone else. Madoka on the other hand was widely grinning in amusement. _'…I swear I'll get you for this…' _Everyone from class 1-1, a few from 1-2 and Houki from 1-3 was in the party. _'Wasn't it supposed to be only among us?' _His class was clearly rubbing it in on the faces of students from 1-2 and Houki.

He looked over at the wall with a giant wall scroll inscribed with: "Ichika Orimura Class Rep Inauguration Party."

'_They've prepared this beforehand huh…?' _

"This will totally hype up the Inter-Class Tournament battles!"

"Totally!"

'_Whose party was it again? Hello?'_

"Aren't you popular, Ichika." Houki sarcastically said from Madoka's side.

"Bite me."

"Hello! Hello! We're from the Newspaper Club here to get a special interview with the new student everyone is talking about!" A dark brown haired girl in short ponytail with blue eyes wearing glasses called out waving a camera in her hands. "I am Mayuzumi Kaoruko! A second year and Vice-President of the Newspaper Club!" She whipped out a card and gave it to Ichika. "Here's my business card!"

He took the car and looked at the name. _'What's with this complex name?'_

"Now then, Ichika-kun! I hope you don't mind answering a few questions of mine!"

'_Can I refuse?'_ A hard pinch from Madoka was all the answer he needed. _'She likely won't stop bothering me if I don't answer…what a pain.'_ He sighed and nodded. "As long as it isn't anything personal."

The senior beamed. "First off! How's it like to be the class rep?"

Ichika shrugged. "Nothing new I guess, other than the Inter-Class Tournament."

"Ah, an experienced person eh? How's it like to be the only male IS pilot in the world?"

"Other than being publicly pointed out to by other people, it isn't anything new."

Mayuzumi paused. "Can you elaborate please?"

"I'm well-known in the world of IS. Both as an engineer and the Brunhilde's younger brother. On top of those, I'm the first male IS pilot. Being the center of attention is something I've gotten used to over the years."

"Understandable." The senior nodded. "Thirdly, are you single?" A hush of silence fell over the room as every pairs of eyes were now on him.

Ichika sighed. Why wasn't he surprised? "Yes I am." A strange gleam appeared in her eyes alerting him of possible danger. "And no, I'm not interested in dating let alone _anyone_." He pointedly glanced at Houki and did not feel an ounce of guilt in seeing her hurt expression. He missed Cecilia's shocked expression.

"Aww~"

"That's too bad~"

"Whose babies will I bear now then?"

Madoka spat out her juice and Ichika choked on his spit hearing the last one.

"Okay, anything you want to say about the upcoming Inter-Class Tournament?"

"I'm definitely going to win it." He resolutely said.

"Ohhhh!"

"Did you hear that girls? He's going to win it!"

"CHEERS!"

"Okay! Thank you Ichika-kun for your patience!" Mayuzumi bowed and left. "Have fun~!"

After that the party continued past 10 PM. Houki had left soon after the senior did and Cecilia was quick to follow. Ichika honestly didn't have it in himself to care for Houki's heartbreak. Unlike in the past, he wasn't that close to her at the present. He also did not have any plan to rectify that either, not until Houki made up with Tabane and _grew up_ at least.

"Today was tiring wasn't it Ichi-nii?"

"You think?"

"Yeah…"

Both of them were now on their respective beds trying to grasp the slippery hands of sleep.

"…way to be subtle tonight…" Madoka broke the silence between them.

"…can you blame me? I don't like illogical people. Houki was and _still_ is an illogical person. I might sound like I'm holding a grudge when I say this but…I don't plan on being buddy-buddy with her until she makes up with Taba-nee and grows up for God's sake."

"What about persuading her?"

"We both know how that will turn out Madoka." Ichika sighed. "Being stubborn is fine but not for the wrong things."

Madoka yawned. "You're right. Good night nii-chan."

Ichika softly smiled. "Good night imouto…"

* * *

"Good morning Ichika! Did you hear? We're getting a transfer student!" One of their classmates said once the two sat down on their seats.

"A transfer student? This time of the year?" Madoka asked with a tilted head.

It was still April, so a student did not necessarily have to transfer into the academy. Besides, IS Academy had very strict rules regarding transfer students, that is, they not only had to pass the entrance exam but they also needed the backing of their respective country. Which meant that the new student was…

"She's the Representative Candidate of China!"

'_China huh…?'_

Speaking of Representative Candidates…

"Oh? Perhaps she was in fear of _my _presence here?"

"Good morning to you too Cecilia." Ichika deadpanned to the British representative.

"O-Oh! G-Good Morning to you too I-Ichika-san!" Cecilia stammered with a blush.

'_What's with the personality flip?' _Everyone thought with a sweatdrop.

"So? What's she like?" Ichika asked in a bored manner.

"Are you curious?"

"Not really." He shrugged. "It's not like she's the class rep right?"

"That's right!"

"Besides, do you really have time to think about other girls? The tournament is next month." Madoka asked pointedly.

"Yes! That's right! We need to do more combat practice to prepare you for the tournament!" Cecilia butt in. "I, Cecilia Alcott shall be your sparring partner for them!" She huffed with her hands on her hips.

'_Yeah like you'd even survive if I/he went all out…'_ the twins thought in a deadpan manner.

The tournament matches were played out between class representatives, mainly to get a sense of their skill levels before practice ended. There's also the fact that this would promote class cohesion and inter-class relations. A half years' worth of free deserts was also used as motivators for the girls besides the trophy for the winning class.

"Don't worry. I _will _win the tournament and make a record of the fastest victory in every match." Ichika confidently proclaimed getting cheers from everyone.

"Go get 'em Ichika!"

"Win us the free deserts!"

'_Knew it.'_

"As of now, only the class reps of 1-1 and 1-4 has Personal IS. So you've got high chances of victory!"

Ichika grunted. He knew that fact of course. But even so, a prototype just _can't _match up to an original like Ichika's IS. Without doubt Ichika would come out as the winner of the tournament without even going all out.

"That's an expired intel right there!" Madoka perked up with a grin instantly recognizing the voice while Ichika wondered why the voice sounded familiar. "The representative of class 1-2 also has a Personal IS! You won't be winning so easily!" There standing at the doorway with arms crossed was a short petite girl with light brown hair in twin tails tied with yellow ribbons and green eyes wearing a specially altered school uniform.

"RIN-RIN!" Madoka exclaimed and dashed towards the girl jumping and hugging her tight enough to crack a few bones. "IT'S YOU! YOU'RE BACK!"

"GAH!" The short girl gasped and rapidly tapped on Madoka's arm turning blue. "_*gasp*_ C-Can't b-breathe…M-Madok-ka-a_*gasp*_!"

"Oh! Sorry!" Madoka released her letting the poor girl slump against the door taking short breaths. "You okay?"

"B-Been b-better…haa…haa…"

"Sorry…" Madoka apologized sullenly.

"Don't worry! I'm tougher than I look!" She sprang to her feet and winced. "Ow! I might have to go to infirmary…" she rubbed the sides of her ribs further worsening Madoka's mood.

_***BAM!***_

"OW! What's the big…id…ea…?" Rin trailed off slowly paling as she met the eyes of one Chifuyu Orimura. "Ch-Chi-Chifuyu-san…"

_***BAM!***_

"It's Orimura-sensei. Get back to your class. Homeroom has started." The last one was for everyone as Madoka shot Rin an apologetic look and walked back to her seat with her classmates doing the same. Rin was wise enough to follow through Chifuyu's order.

"See you at lunch Madoka!" Rin said before wincing and changing course towards the infirmary. "…I think I should go to the infirmary first…" she muttered as Chifuyu slammed the door shut.

"Who was that? She kinda seemed familiar." Ichika asked Madoka getting an eye roll from her.

"She's my best friend Lingyin Huang, or Rin-Rin as I like to call her." Madoka explained.

"Doesn't explain why she seems familiar to me."

"She went to the same middle school as us. You've been mostly busy with your IS engineering and hardly came to school. I introduced her to you once but you were in a hurry and left. Dan knows her quite well too."

"Oh, I see."

_***SWOOSH! THWACK!***_

Ichika leaned back just in time to dodge the thrown clipboard that ended up hitting the girl behind him.

"Yessssss~!" The girl moaned before passing out.

"You just killed her!" Ichika exclaimed.

"Shut up and give it back!" Ichika rolled his eyes and gently took the clipboard before doing the mistake of handing it to her instead of throwing it back.

"OOMPH!" Ichika grunted as Chifuyu's punch landed square on his gut. He did his best not to puke and curse up a storm.

Chifuyu huffed and started the class once Ichika returned to his seat and slumped over.

* * *

Once lunch break started, the trio of Ichika, Madoka and Cecilia headed towards the rooftop. Madoka excused herself and headed to class 1-2 to bring Rin along the ride.

Once the four of them gathered together and formed a circle with Ichika facing Cecilia and Rin facing Madoka, they started eating and catching up.

"It's been a while huh? A year to be exact. How has life treated you in China, Rin?" Madoka started the conversion.

"I've been great! How about you? Did you get sick or hurt more often?"

'_What kind of caring friend asks that?'_ Ichika thought bewilderedly as his sister pretended like it was a normal thing to ask. _'Then again, we aren't the best definition of "normal" ourselves.'_

"Sick? No. Hurt? Yes. IS training under nee-san isn't painless you know?"

"Ouch. Gotta hurt, huh?"

"No shit."

Rin then gazed at him and asked, "How have you been Ichika?"

Ichika shrugged. "Great, you could say."

"How far have you gone in your IS engineering?"

"I'm a certified IS engineer." He grinned proudly. "In fact, Cecilia here uses one of the two 3rd gen IS prototypes I sold to Britain."

"Hoh?" She then looked at Cecilia.

Cecilia coughed into her hand and spoke up, "That's right! I'm using **Blue Tears**, a 3rd generation IS prototype that Ichika-san designed himself."

"And you are?" Rin deadpanned startling Cecilia comically.

"Y-Y-You d-don't know who I am?!" Cecilia exclaimed.

Instead of answering her Rin looked at Madoka and asked, "She's one of those 'ojou' and 'hohoho hoe' types isn't she?"

"Excuse me?!"

Madoka nodded with a strained smile. "Sadly. But she seems to be improving. That's a plus." Ichika nodded in amusement.

"Listen here!" Cecilia screamed indignantly. "I am Britain's Representative Candidate, Cecilia Alcott!" She pointed at Rin. "Do you get that?"

Rin dully looked at her and cleaned her ears. "Huh? You said something blondie?"

'_I'm starting to like her…'_ Ichika smirked.

Cecilia turned red in outrage. Before she could blow a gasket, Rin spoke up.

"I was really surprised though when the news showed you being the first male capable of piloting an IS, Ichika."

"Well…what can I say? Even _the _Tabane Shinonono doesn't know why."

"Heeeee…"

"What's your IS anyway Rin?" Madoka spoke up after calming down Cecilia.

"Hmm? Mine too is a 3rd gen prototype, **ShenLong**."

"**ShenLong** you say?" Ichika muttered. "So they finally completed it?"

"What do you mean?" Madoka and Rin both asked.

Ichika pointed at Rin. "**ShenLong** had a massive flaw in its design. The [Ryuhou], it may have been a state of the art Impact Cannon but its functionality had some flaws. That aside, the engineers were unable to create a connection to the IS core's AI. I had to reprogram the AI and change a few of the cannon's components to make it function."

"Oh my, Ichika-san seems to become more impressive every day!" Cecilia praised with her eyes shining like stars.

Rin gaped at him. "Doesn't that mean you know how my IS works?! That's cheating!"

Ichika shrugged. "Just your luck then."

Rin pouted. "No fair! Tell me everything about your IS then!"

"Ichika-san, don't!"

Ichika raised a hand. "It's fine Cecilia. My IS is currently called **Golden Dragon Monarch**, a 4th gen _original _IS designed by yours truly."

"No way! I don't believe you!" She could believe the part of him designing it, but not the 4th generation part.

"It's true." Madoka's rebuttal paused Rin. "In fact, my **Byakushiki Setsura **is also a 4th gen original IS confirmed by Tabane Shinonono herself."

"Technically Madoka, yours is a 1st gen IS." Ichika pointed out.

"How so?"

"Your IS was _the _**Shirokishi** rebuilt into the 3.5th gen IS **Byakushiki** and 4th gen in Second Shift as **Byakushiki Setsura**. Your IS _still _is **Shirokishi** and 1st gen at its core."

"Huh? I guess it makes sense that the avatar of the core is **Shirokishi** herself."

"WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! STOP!" Rin wildly flayed her arms to gain the siblings' attention. She glared at Madoka. "You're telling me your IS is a _3.5_th gen turned 4th gen?! In Second Shift?!"

"Mine is in Second Shift too."

"SHUT UP!" Rin then stared at Madoka as if her existence was a contradiction itself. "And now Ichika's telling me that your IS is the former **Shirokishi**?!"

"It still is tho."

"I-Ichika-san… could it be that both of your IS' were made by Tabane Shinonono herself?" Cecilia asked.

"Yep. I only gave her the blueprint for my IS. In fact, she made the three of our IS' with mine and nee-san's being custom."

"Then does that mean that you've learnt IS engineering from her?"

Ichika blinked. "Of course! She also tutored me in my middle school education and more. In fact, I could've graduated from a University within next year if I was unable to pilot an IS."

"So _that_'s why you were _always _in the top of our grades despite missing out on classes!"

"Well duh. Someone who's studying IS engineering from the age of 11 is bound to be ahead of his peers."

"Don't you 'duh' me!"

Before Rin could fly off a tangent the bell rang signifying the end of the lunch break.

"Welp! See ya Rin-Rin." Madoka said dusting her skirt.

"Have a good day Rin." Ichika waved before following his sister out leaving two dumbfounded representative candidates behind.

"Are you sure it was wise to let them know we have connections with Tabane-nee?" Madoka whispered once the two of them were a good distance away from the two representative candidates.

"It'll be fine." Ichika waved her concerns off. "The world will eventually know the truth. Besides, it's a known fact that nee-san and Taba-nee are close friends. Nee-san will keep them out of our hair."

"If you say so."

* * *

"Ichika."

Houki's voice resounded once Ichika entered the changing room. He and Madoka once again were training Cecilia in CQC as today would be the last day they would've gotten any of the arenas free for practice before the tournament next week.

Ichika took a good look at Houki searching for clues. He knew that his pointed look at her during that party after revealing the fact that he wasn't interested in dating anyone would've been something equivalent to a slap for Houki. What he wanted to know why she approached him after more than two weeks instead of sooner, and a week before the tournament at that.

As his eyes met hers, he found several things. Confusion. Conflict. Despair. Frustration. Hatred. Anger. Hope. Contempt. Those were what her eyes relayed to him.

Tilting his head slightly up and then to the side he asked, "What brings you here Houki? You've been one with the air for quite some time."

Houki tilted her head to meet his eyes, her face contorted into 'the scowl she was born with'. She opened and closed her mouth several times unable to form a coherent sentence. Seeing this, Ichika opened a closet and pulled out his towel. Sitting down on a bench he patted the space beside him. Houki sat down with a sigh and took a deep breath.

"Do you remember the promise we made six years ago?"

Ichika paused and glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. _'She's pretty serious about this…should I say 'no' or not…?'_ He remembered the promise well enough to be annoyed with his younger self and apparently that annoyance showed on his face too as Houki scowled deeper.

He sighed and to show his annoyance he offhandedly said, "The one where I'd be your boyfriend if you won the National Kendo tournament?"

Houki blushed and nodded. "Yes." She coughed into her hand and continued, "And now that I've won the tour-"

"If you're expecting to keep my promise then you're dumber than you appear to be Houki." Ichika harshly interrupted shocking the girl.

"What?! Why?!" She yelled standing up trying to look intimidating and failing.

"Why you ask?" Ichika stood up and towered over her succeeding in intimidating her. "Do you want a list or just a single sentence?"

"I-I…"

"Don't answer. I'll just give you a short and simple answer." Ichika then looked straight into her soul and said, "Firstly I'm _not_ interested in dating, Secondly,I don't have the same feelings you do. I never will feel them. In fact I don't feel anything positive about you." From the corner of his eyes he saw Madoka, Rin and Cecilia standing at the doorway listening in on them. He pretended not to see and continued. "You're childish, selfish, impatient, ill-tempered, _immature_, egoistic, extremely prideful and stubborn." Houki flinched as every words coming out of his mouth stabbed her in the heart. "You are _everything _I find distasteful. So tell me _Shinonono_, why should I be the boyfriend of someone I _don't _even like?"

He crossed his arms and glared. "Moreover, you're holding a meaningless grudge against Tabane-nee-san _simply for introducing IS on the day of your tournament_. Yes, it's reasonable to hate her for that as the tournament got cancelled and your chance got taken away but holding a grudge is too much." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as Houki seemingly shrunk with every word coming out of his mouth. "Do you realize how much you hurt her every time you hang up on her yearly calls _30 seconds into the call_? She loved you, still does and will forever do even if you keep on hating her."

He sighed and sat down. "There's a lot more I could tell you but I won't. Just…" he pointed at the exit. "…get out of my sight." Rin and Cecilia flinched back in shock and Madoka sighed. "Don't show me your face until you _grow the fuck up _and make up with Taba-nee. Once you've done that, then I'll _consider_ associating with you."

Houki stood stock still for a few seconds before hiccupping and leaving, walking out of the place. Once she left, he slumped over and held his head in his hands cursing up a storm.

"That… was harsh." Rin said sitting down beside him.

"Tell me something I don't know…" he mumbled out.

"…sorry."

"It's fine."

Cecilia frowned. "Madoka-san gave us a simplified version of the story but can you tell us about it yourself?" She then hurriedly added, "O-Only if you don't mind that is!"

Ichika shook his head. "It's fine Cecilia. I don't mind." Cecilia sat down beside him. "As you can see, Houki is the younger sister of Tabane Shinonono. Taba-nee introduced the IS, as in through the 'White Knight Incident' on the day of the National Kendo Tournament of grade 4." Rin passed him a water bottle. "The tournament got cancelled and Houki, who was sure to win the tournament lost her chance at making me her 'boyfriend' got angry at Taba-nee and said a lot of things from 'It's your fault!' right down to 'I hate you!'."

He took a sip of water and continued. "While it makes sense that she hated Taba-nee back then due her young mind, it doesn't mean she should hold a grudge _to this day_. Every day is hell for Taba-nee because of that. The only way to forget about it was by throwing herself into her work, and later on by taking me under her wing." He laughed dryly. "To her, there exists only four important people in this world." He raised four fingers. "Houki, Chifuyu-nee-san, me and Madoka. She wouldn't even bat an eyelash if some kind of zombie apocalypse happened and the entire world's civilization turned into the undead. She would just pop out of nowhere to our side and take us to wherever she lived."

"Ah, sorry I got sidetracked." He apologized. "As I was saying, Houki is too stubborn to forgive her sister despite knowing that Taba-nee is not at fault and too prideful to admit it. She didn't even ask her sister for a Personal IS. Taba-nee would've been happy if she even called her just to ask for the Personal IS." He shook his head. "Anyway, long story short, I don't feel the same way Houki does and don't plan to do so, not anytime soon. Once she makes up with Taba-nee then I'll consider associating with her."

There was silence for a few seconds as both girls processed what he said. Rin smiled softly and said, "You're doing this for Tabane Shinonono, aren't you?"

Ichika smiled back at her and nodded. "I owe her a lot."

"You also wish to repay her for taking you under her wings by guiding Houki Shinonono into making up with her." Cecilia softly added. Ichika appreciated her not saying 'forced'.

"Yeah…"

After a few seconds of comfortable silence Ichika stood up and faced them with a mischievous grin. "Now then, do you want to stay here and watch me change or wait outside?" He wiggled his eyebrows as the two slowly turned red. "I wouldn't mind you know!"

Rin and Cecilia exploded into a full body blush. "PERVERT!" The two scrambled out of the door and loudly slammed the door shut.

"Ahhh, that was fun…"

* * *

"You know… for a unit named dragon, it doesn't quite look like one don't you think?" Ichika asked Rin as they stood opposite to each other in the second arena. It was the day of the tournament and the first match was between class 1-1 and 1-2, as in Ichika vs Rin.

Rin scoffed. "Say that to the manufacturers." Her eyes followed the slow swishing of his IS's tail much to his amusement. "Besides, you _did_ work on **ShenLong** didn't you?"

The two of them were talking through an open channel, thus those in the control room could hear them.

"True that may be, I mainly worked with the [Ryuhou] and the AI in its core and system. Not the design." Ichika shrugged.

"_Okay, both of you get to your positions."_ Yamada-sensei's voice rang out in their channel. Without a word or hesitation both flew up to the sky five meters away from each other.

Well aware of her armaments, Ichika summoned his secondary melee armament, [Gáe Bulg], a long golden spear with the intricately designed body being two meters in length and the blue tinted silver blade being two feet. He took his stance and pointed the tip towards Rin with the seven hexagonal shields floating beside and in front of him in a defensive formation.

Materializing her twin Chinese scimitars [Souten Gagetsu], she combined them into a double bladed form with a grin and took her own stance. "Oh? Despite knowing what my IS is capable of you still decided to engage me in CQC?"

_[Scanning enemy IS. IS Unit: __**Golden Dragon Monarch**__ (Second Shift), 4th Generation, All-Rounder Type IS. Armaments:_ _Gáe Bulg, a spear with a special ability of manipulating flames. Other armaments unable to be found.]_ She hummed in contempt hearing the report of her IS. Though she was confused as to why her IS couldn't find any other armaments.

"Well, I did beat Cecilia in her preferred style of combat." Ichika shrugged as the spear's blade lit up in vibrant red flames with hints of orange and yellow.

'_Gotta be careful about that.' _Rin noted in her mind as her IS soon reported _[Caution: Flames hold Anti-IS properties and extreme heat. Warning: Avoid CQC.] 'Well, shit.'_ She realized her face said something as Ichika smirked.

"_Both of you, please start the match."_

"May the best dragon win."

"Yeah!"

Immediately Ichika covered the distance between the two of them and swung [Gáe Bulg] at her midriff. She quickly flew backwards but was caught off guard when a small arc of flames raced towards her.

'_Great! He's got all three ranges covered with this.'_

She spun [Souten Gagetsu] and dispersed the flames but it seemed like they had a mind of their own as the dispersed flames turn to small tendrils and came in contact with her energy shield.

_[Barrier Penetrated: 78 points. Shield Energy remaining: 622. Damage to frame: low. Warning: Avoid CQC.]_

'_The hell?! Even a small tendril is capable of this much damage?! That's 11% lost!' _Rin noted with sweat dripping down her face. She noticed that Ichika didn't attack her despite her lack of attention. "Don't you think it's unfair that you're using an Anti-IS armament in this tournament?"

Ichika merely raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Didn't stop nee-san from winning the Mondo Grosso twice, did it?"

"But this is a school tournament!"

"Yet Mondo Grosso's rules apply here." That shut Rin up. "In fact, all three of us siblings have Anti-IS armaments."

**Byakushiki**'s [Yukihira Nigata] had its own One Off Ability [Reiraku Byakuya], which in reality was a defective copy of **Kurazakura**'s One Off Ability [Twilight Ending]. This was Tabane's half-successful attempt at replicating an IS's One Off ability, as in, a weak and defective copy of the original, hence the backlash of Shield Energy consumption **Byakushiki** _still_ suffers from. **Byakushiki Setsura** didn't actually have its own _original _One Off Ability yet despite having undergone Second Shift, so it's currently sharing [Yukihira Nigata]'s One Off Ability and applying it into the energy shield.

**Golden Dragon Monarch **had two Anti-IS armaments and three normal armaments. The former two came with the Second Shift- one of them had been revealed. While they were not on par with **Kurazakura**'s [Twilight Ending], they were definitely stronger than [Yukihira Nigata]'s [Reiraku Byakuya] as they didn't suffer from any kind of backlash. Two clean _full powered_ strikes from his other Anti-IS armament would destroy an IS no matter how high Shield Energy points they had.

Why did the three siblings have Anti-IS armaments? Phantom Task, simple as that.

"Are you three 'IS Slayers' or what?" Rin joked firing invisible shots from [Ryuhou], most of which Ichika evaded and the rest blocked by his seven hexagonal shield. _'Tch! How is he evading let alone blocking something invisible?'_

"Ask our IS that." Ichika rolled his eyes deflecting a slash from Rin. Currently his IS had 715/750 Shield Energy points remaining, while Rin's had 402/700 remaining, 13 minutes had passed since the start of the battle. Ichika then repeatedly stabbed at Rin shooting streams of flames at her while she did her best to dodge the streams and dispersing them with [Ryuhou] to the best of her abilities from mid-range.

"Tch." Rin clicked her tongue in frustration as another 53 points got reduced from a stray flame tendril. _'I've already lost 50% of my energy. I'm definitely going to lose this match…'_

As Ichika suddenly sped up and slashed at Rin…

_***KA-BOOM!***_

…the arena's isolation shield detonated and was left gaping as something had crashed through it and impacted at the center of the field raising alarms and shields to protect the crowd.

Both of them floated two meters away from each other and stared at the smoking crater at the center of the field.

"Wh-What's that?!" Rin asked pointing at the five glowing orbs of differing sizes at where the 'head' was supposed to be.

"An IS unit?"

"Not the time for jokes Ichika!"

"Sorry. Sorry."

"_Orimura! Huang! Return to the hangar! The match is off!"_ Chifuyu's stern voice came through the com link.

_[Heat signature detected. Source: Unknown IS Unit. Enemy lock-on detected.]_

"Wha-" That was all Rin could say before a powerful scorching ray headed towards Rin. She tried using her scimitars to block but that turned out unnecessary as Ichika sent one of his shields to block the attack unfortunately cracking it instead.

"Shit. That's a powerful beam if it can crack those shields of mine."

"Thanks for the save Ichika!"

"After this we're going to work on your evasive maneuvers, reaction time and reflexes. Be prepared for that."

"O-Okay…"

"For now, let's not keep her waiting." Ichika said taking a stance. "Support me from a distance. I'll deal with it in CQC."

"Roger!"

"But before that…" Ichika sent the cracked shield towards her. "…grab it. It will refill some of your shield energy."

Rin wordlessly grabbed it and watch it turn into motes of blue before being absorbed by her IS. _[Shield Energy restored to 475 points.]_ _'Holy crap! 18% has been restored?!'_ Rin was getting impressed by Ichika's IS every moment. "You can restore shield energy of others?!"

"Why do you think **Golden Dragon Monarch **is an All-Rounder type IS?" Ichika rolled his eyes and stabbed the air shooting a long stream of flame towards where the infra-red and thermal detectors revealed the unknown IS to be.

Another beam of energy dispersed the smoke and punched through the flames heading towards Ichika, albeit slowed down enough to dodge it.

"Let's go!"

"Right!"

* * *

"Hey! Are you listening?! Orimura-kun! Huang-san! Are you listening?!" Yamada-sensei hysterically yelled into the com unnecessarily but she was too nervous to realize that. Chifuyu and Madoka on the other hand remained calm a few meters away. Heck, Madoka even looked bored and was actually chomping on some pocky.

"Orimura-kun! Huang-san! Leave the arena at once! The teachers will subdue the unit!"

Madoka snorted as a "are you stupid?" expression settled on Ichika's face.

"_No offence Yamada-sensei, but do you have some screws loose there or what?"_

"_Ichika! She's your teacher!"_

Madoka giggled as a befuddled expression settled on Yamada-sensei's face. She could hear the amusement in Rin's tone.

"Wh-Wha-"

"_Do you really think a bunch of Uchigane would do better than a 3__rd__ and 4__th__ gen IS against an unknown IS?"_ He rolled in air to dodge a beam. _"In fact, these beams are _far _stronger than Cecilia's BITs."_ He spun and stabbed the IS in the forearm and yanked to the side ripping off the cannons on it. _"Besides, by the time the teachers arrive, I'll be done with this piece of scrap metal."_ He smirked summoning [Fafnir] and shot point blank on the IS's chest sending it flipping back for several meters only for Rin to bat it back to him. He spun and slammed [Gáe Bulg] _hard_ on its head sending it crashing to the ground crackling with electricity. Even velocity rings formed from that strike. _"Don't worry. Drink some salted coffee and watch. This _unmanned_ IS can't even do tenth of what nee-san can do."_ Madoka smirked and elbowed Chifuyu with a sly grin.

"Huh?!" Yamada-sensei and Cecilia stood still dumbfounded. "Wait a second! An IS can't be unmanned!"

"_Yet we're fighting one."_ Ichika replied before _ripping off_ the cannonless arm to reveal sparking wires at the stump. _"See?"_ he _slapped _the IS with said arm before blasting its knee with [Fafnir].

"Hahaha! He slapped it with its own arm!" Madoka laughed and Chifuyu smirked.

"B-Bu-But-!"

"Here Yamada-sensei, salted coffee." Chifuyu passed a mug of said coffee to her.

"B-Bu-But…!"

"Coffee."

Yamada-sensei sniffled and took a sip of the coffee. "YACK!" Rivers of tears came out of her eyes. _'Demons…' _She sniffled again.

"Bahahahaha! She drank it! She actually drank it!" Madoka was rolling on the floor by this point while Cecilia looked on uncomfortably.

_'They're bullying her...'_

As if reading her mind Chifuyu turned to look at Cecilia. "Do you need salted coffee Alcott?"

"NO! I'm fine! I'm great!" Cecilia awkwardly laughed.

"Oh, it's nearing the end." Chifuyu commented turning back to the screen. "Yamada. Alcott, take a good look. _This _is a first rate pilot."

* * *

Ichika barrel rolled again to dodge a beam and ducked under the fist that came flying towards him. He hadn't taken that much damage. He still had 608 shield points remaining, Rin had 238.

"Well, I had my share of fun. Let's end this." The wing segments spread further and his IS glowed yellow. He readied [Gáe Bulg] and said, "Rin, stay back. I'll finish this quick."

Rin nodded. "Alright." She flew back upwards and watched. She had seen how Ichika can actually fight once it was determined that the IS was unmanned. She was really astonished to say the least. His quick and precise movements, sharp attacks and dexterity all showed her that he was holding back against her by a large margin. All of them could've killed her twice over.

Ichika took a deep breath and breathed out, "Reload on Fire." His IS glowed brightly to the point only his silhouette could be seen. 'Reload on Fire' was actually the activation command for his IS's first One Off ability: [Wise Blood Accel]. This ability let him see 10 seconds into the future, determine the route leading to the best possible outcome and then accelerating five times the max speed for a maximum of ten seconds to follow through that route. _'It's like playing a VN with many girls as heroines with their own routes.'_ He could use the One Off Ability for more than 10 seconds but his shield points would be reduced.

The unmanned IS, despite missing an arm and half of its leg flew at Ichika.

'_The IS sure seems motivated.'_ Rin thought as it rushed at Ichika. The next thing she knows, the sound barrier was shattered, the IS split in half and Ichika in a different location. _'Wha-?'_

_***BOOOM!***_

A large shockwave formed tussling her as the unmanned IS exploded and the glow of Ichika's IS faded away.

"Done!" Ichika grinned childishly. "Man, letting lose is soooo fun~!"

Rin gawked and was pretty sure Cecilia and Yamada-sensei were doing too.

"Well then Rin~! Let's go calm Yamada-sensei down before she has a heart attack."

Rin only dumbly nodded and followed him to the hangar and then control room."

* * *

Houki shut down the TV in her room once the fight ended and deeply thought to herself. She was lucky that she didn't have a roommate and could do whatever she wished.

For the past week, she deeply thought back to her one-sided conversation with Ichika. She had been struggling internally. Her logical side and emotional side continuously fought each trying to prove the other wrong.

Her logical side said that whatever Ichika said was true. That side agreed with Ichika.

Her emotional side, ruled by stubborn pride kept on telling her that it was _Ichika _who was wrong.

Houki has always been an emotional person but was unable to express them. That's why she kept an aloof expression on her face and walked proudly. But she couldn't do that for the past week. Even her classmates noticed it and expressed their concern. And what did she do?

She roughly brushed them off.

'_I'm such an idiot!'_ She thought curling up and pressing her face against her knees.

**"**_**You think?" **_She didn't look up as she knew that her logical side manifested itself in a form only visible to her. It sighed and shook its head. _**"What will you do now? Keep on being stubborn or actually face **_**reality**_**?"**_

**"**_**Fuck off Logic!"**_ her emotional side manifested itself and yelled at her logical side which didn't even bother to look back instead only stared at Houki. She could _feel _the pity in its eyes. _**"Buzz the fuck off you bitch! Like hell she's gonna apologize!"**_

She was probably mentally unstable. No way can a normal person experience _this_.

**"**_**Houki."**_ Houki twitched. _**"Look me in the eyes and tell me, no us, what will you do?"**_

Houki looked up at both her emotional side and logical side. Honestly, their appearances were completely opposite of what she had expected.

Both looked like herself but there were alterations. Logic had crimson hair- the same shade as Ichika's eyes- let down straight instead of her ponytail. It was wearing an equally crimson kimono with pink floral patterns and yellow obi. Its skin was milky white and eyes colored a beautiful shade of gold- the same shade as Ichika's IS. Logic mostly stayed stoic but frowned often, all directed at her.

Her emotional side on the other hand looked like a _slut_. It wore revealing cloths that barely covered its private parts often giving her peeks of those places. It was bustier and curvier than her and had plump lips. Its skin was bone white with black lips, black sclera and purple iris with acidic green slits for pupils. Its hair was let down too but the hair reached the floor and spread like a curtain.

Honestly, she expected her logic side to look like a demon and her emotional side like a samurai. She got completely different ones.

**"**_**Well sorry we didn't meet your expectations!"**_ her emotional side spat at her. It mostly scowled like her and looked at her condescendingly as if she was lower than dirt. _**"Which you are, btw tbh."**_ And of course they could hear her thoughts. _**"That's cuz we **_**are **_**you like it or not."**_

Houki sighed. "I've decided." The two representations straightened up and paid their full attention to her. She resolutely looked them in the eyes and said,

"I…"

Whatever she said brought genuine beautiful smile to one of their faces.

* * *

"Whoo! That was fun!" Ichika said as he entered the control room with an exhausted Rin.

"You've been toying with it on purpose weren't you?" Chifuyu asked in amusement while Madoka checked over Rin.

Ichika shrugged. "At least I turned it into a team exercise for Rin."

Chifuyu shook her head.

Ichika then noticed Yamada-sensei blankly staring at the empty screen. "Uhh, Yamada-sensei…?" he tapped her shoulder.

"Eep!" She cutely yelped and looked at him with wide eyes and hand over her heart. "O-Or-Orimura-kun! Don't scare me like that!"

"You looked catatonic." Ichika pointed out. "So, I uhh, kinda got... worried about your health...?"

Yamada-sensei blushed. "Y-You g-got worried for m-me?" She asked meekly.

"I, uhh, yeah…" he shyly rubbed the back of his head.

Rin and Cecilia looked at the interaction with inquisitive eyes while Chifuyu and Madoka had one but different thought.

'_Ugh…I'm gonna puke/Just kiss already!'_

You decide who thought which.

"I know I shouldn't be saying this but…" Yamada-sensei spoke up twiddling her thumbs with a soft blush on her face.

'_Oh hell…'_

"…you were really cool there fighting that unmanned IS!"

Ichika's face exploded into an identical blush and he had a dopey grin on his face.

"Hehehe… thank you sensei…"

"You're so strong… just like your sister…" by this point the two of them were once again in their own world.

"Hahaha…well, nee-san _did_ train me…"

Madoka slapped a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from laughing at the scene of Chifuyu's eyebrow twitching.

'_Is student-teacher relationship even allowed in here?'_ Rin thought somehow getting the gist of what was happening.

'_What's happening here?'_ Cecilia cluelessly thought seeing Ichika converse with Yamada-sensei as flowers bloomed in the background turning the control room into a beautiful forest. _'What's this phenomenon?!'_

Chifuyu sighed pressing a hand against her temple. "Let's go. I doubt they'd stop anytime soon." She trusted Yamada-sensei to not do anything stupid, so she calmed down and walked out of the control room with Rin, Madoka and Cecilia trotting behind her.

'_How would their kids even look like?'_

* * *

**Btw, I'm be using the old design for Byakushiki and its second shift instead of the novel reboot one. All the other IS will be from the novel reboot one. I'm not much of a romantic but I'll try my best to make this a Maya x Ichika story. As for the harem? It's still up for debate. As you can see, Rin is not much involved in Ichika's past, so no crush on him! As for Houki, she'll be getting her IS soon. **


	3. Transfers

**Author's Note: I**** think I finally understand WHY the girls in the canon are over possessive and abusive on Ichika. It's cause the author probably has a thing/fetish for YANDEREs. Can't believe it took me this long to figure it out, that too in the middle of praying, ROFL!**

* * *

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

**IS Unit Name**

[IS Equalizer]

_[IS AI report]_

* * *

On a Sunday of early June, Ichika and Madoka both took the first chance they got and set out of the IS Academy. Ichika being the household person that he was immediately cleaned the entire house. Once he was done with it, he showered, changed into proper clothing and headed out to meet with the only close friend he had in middle school- Dan Gotanda.

Madoka was quick to follow as she also wanted to spend some time with Ran- the younger sister of Dan.

Immediately upon reaching the place, the two were forced to sit down and eat lunch by Gen Gotanda. Dan and Ran joined them too and some words were exchanged with the elder Gotandas and after that, the four teenagers went upstairs and separated gender wise.

The girls were chatting in Ran's room and the boys played 'Infinite Stratos: Versus' in Dan's room.

"And?" Dan spoke up in the middle of a round.

"And what?" Ichika retorted quickly pressing buttons and fired off his super move. Dan was quick to follow. _'Don't just go firing off your own super move dumbass!'_

"It's an all girls' school." Dan calmly mentioned. "You've gotten lucky at least once, right?"

Ichika groaned. _'How many times will I have to tell him before it sinks in?'_ He had met Dan on the first day of middle school and ended up in the same class as him for the 1st and 3rd year. Ichika was separated from Madoka, Rin and Dan during the second year and thus with his lack of proper interaction with Rin, he had little to no memories of the short and petite brunette.

"C'mon, don't hold out on me." Dan whined getting a critical hit from Ichika. "The place looks like heaven on earth! Can't you sneak me in too?"

"Heaven does _not_ put your chastity in risk." Ichika deadpanned getting a wince from Dan. "Thank God I had Madoka with me to fend off my to-be-violators."

Dan raised an eyebrow. "I thought she'd encourage the girls to jump your bones?"

Ichika rolled his eyes. "Madoka may love pranking me, but she's just as protective of me as I am of her."

"True." Dan nodded sagely. "But even so, my point still stands." He pointed a finger at Ichika and smirked. "You're basically living the dreams of every man and teenage boys!"

"I don't think with my dick you asswipe." Ichika snarked finishing off Dan and becoming the winner of the match.

"Harsh."

"Rin transferred in by the way."

"The shortie did?"

"She's the Chinese Representative Candidate."

"Oh? Is she now?"

"Yeah." Ichika nodded starting another match. "Fought her in the Inter-Class tournament and won." He lied through his teeth. He couldn't just go and tell him the truth could he? A gag order was placed after all. He, Rin and Cecilia had to sign paperwork.

Dan winced. "Must've broken her pride, huh?"

Ichika nodded. Rin did seem to be in a daze after the day of the incident. But that didn't hamper her from losing her focus during training even if she occasionally squabbled with Cecilia.

"I win again." Ichika said with a matter-of-fact tone.

"Oi! It isn't fair! Why did you kill me with chip damage in hyper mode?!"

"Cause you're an idiot?" Ichika deadpanned. "Ran's punching bag? Her stress reliever?" An awkward silence settled after the last one. "On second thought, let's just _not _talk about the last one."

"Agreed." Dan nodded starting another match. "Italy's Tempesta is really good. The thing is pretty much OP." He then sent Ichika a pleading look. "Please take Britain's Maelstrom or something else please. Your sister's Kurazakura was way too OP. Even beyond Tempesta."

Ichika chuckled. "Sure. Even then, I'll be the winner."

Dan grinned triumphantly. "We'll see about that!" Britain's Maelstrom was too clunky and hardly dealt any significant damage and the combos never worked. But even so, Ichika made it work and won shooting a smug look at his crying friend.

"It's not fair! You're a freaking engineer! Of course you'll have the upper hand!"

"You realized that now?" Ran asked in a condescending manner entering the room in formal clothing. "Anyway, me and Madoka are going to the arcade. Wanna come with us Ichika-san?"

Ichika shrugged. "Been a while since I last visited one. Let's go."

"Ichika!" Dan shouted standing up with a grin. "Let's go 1-on-1 in air hockey!"

"You wanna lose again?" Ichika and Ran deadpanned together.

"I've gotten a lot better than middle school!" Dan retorted with a red Chinese dragon floating behind him.

"Hoh?" A golden western dragon manifested behind Ichika. "Let's see about that, shall we?"

"Let's."

* * *

"Ugh…I'm tired…" Madoka whined as she trotted beside an equally tired Ichika towards their dorm room.

"Me too…" Ichika muttered opening the door to their room. He won 16 times in a row against Dan in several games and then joined the girls in DDR. "Who's taking the bath first?"

Madoka waved him off. "You go first. I wanna lie down."

Ichika lazily shrugged and pulled out a pair of t-shirt and shorts before heading towards the shower. His eyes glanced at the calendar. _'The tournament is this month isn't it…?'_

Individual Division tournament, just as the name implied, was a tournament held within each school year that would take an entire week. Participation was mandatory.

Each grade had a maximum of 120 students. A tournament with that big of a bracket was a lot of work to put on. Since the first years didn't have much time to train they would be rated on natural talent. Second years would be scored on progress and third years on combat effectiveness.

This tournament was mostly important for the third years as the crowd would be full of scouts from IS-related industries and international VIPs.

Last month's Inter-Class Tournament was cancelled due to the attack, and when the culprit herself called him two days later, he had to restrain himself from bashing his skull on a nearby wall.

'_Of course it'd be Taba-nee testing out her new invention!'_

He felt stupid for not connecting the dots. Though she did give him some pleasant news after explaining her actions.

**Flashback start**

"_Ik-kun! Ik-kun! Guess what?!"_ Tabane's voice full of childlike excitement was heard from the speaker of his phone,

"Your boobs grew?" Ichika guessed leaning against the rails on the rooftop.

"_Yup! Yup! By two sizes! I'm officially an F-cup!"_ Ichika winced as she let out a shrill squeal. _"Wanna feel 'em?"_

"I'll pass." Ichika could imagine her pouting. "Anyway, I guess this isn't a social call?"

"_Fufufu~! That's right! How was the Golem?"_

"The Golem?" Ichika looked up in confusion before realization dawned on him. "That was _your_ doing?!"

"_Yep!"_ He could hear the smile on her face.

"Why?"

"_To gather more data of course!"_

"Didn't you have enough from both my and Madoka's IS?"

"_True! But I wanted to gather data on how an AI controlled IS would work!"_ He could picture her spinning in her chair. _"And thanks to you, I can start working on my next project!"_

"A perfected Golem?"

"_Well yes, but actually no."_

"Did you just meme me?" Ichika incredulously asked.

"_Well yes, but actually no."_ Ichika squawked. _"Well anyway! Houki-chan called!"_ She squealed again.

Ichika straightened up with a grimace. "Is that so?"

"_Your plan had its intended effect."_

"Albeit later than expected." A hum was the response. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "What did she say?"

"_Well…"_

**Flashback end**

"You can go now Madoka." Ichika said sitting down on his bed.

Madoka grunted, pulled out her sleepwear out of their shared closet and wordlessly entered the shower.

Ichika shook his head and looked at the gold wristband on his left arm. It was quite funny how a weapon of mass destruction took an inoffensive looking standby mode.

He then heard a knock on the door and hopped off the bed. He opened the door and looked down to meet the eyes of one Rin.

"What brings you here Rin?"

"I was going to the cafeteria for dinner but then I thought about inviting the two of you there."

Ichika looked at the shower room door and contemplated. "Normally either I or Madoka cook for ourselves, breakfast, lunch and dinner all to avoid the subpar food of the cafeteria and attention."

Rin slapped her forehead. "Oh right! I forgot Madoka told me that. I guess you're going to start eating now?"

Ichika looked sheepish. "Actually, the two of us just returned from visiting the Gotanda's. We went to the arcade before coming back so we didn't have dinner yet. So maybe…" his face soured. "…we'll have to eat together with everyone in the cafeteria."

Rin's eyes gleamed. "Then how about I cook diner for the three of us?"

Ichika hesitated. "You sure? Not that I mind."

"Let her." Madoka said coming out of the shower room in her sleepwear. "She's a good chef. And we have enough ingredients too."

Madoka was the one to cook breakfast every morning, so she knew how much ingredients they had left today.

Ichika stepped aside and let Rin enter their room. She directly entered the kitchen and opened the fridge.

Rin grinned and nodded. "Dinner will be ready in an hour! Rest for now!"

"Need any help?" Ichika asked only to be yanked by Madoka.

"She won't need any. Just rest for now."

"Fine."

* * *

After they were done eating dinner, Rin brought up the Gotandas.

"So, why didn't you take me with you to the Gotanda's?"

"You weren't there in your room when we came to invite you." Madoka pointedly replied. "You weren't picking up our calls either."

"Ah sorry." Rin sheepishly muttered. "I went out on a walk and ended up tagging along with my classmates to the mall. And my phone was out of battery at that time too."

"What a coincidence." Madoka deadpanned. Rin shrugged apologetically.

"By the way Rin-Rin, Ran is planning on applying to the IS Academy next year. Her IS compatibility is a solid A."

"Eh? Really?!"

"Hmm. I've agreed to train her during the summer vacation."

"How? You can't bring her here and let her pilot an Uchigane."

This time Ichika answered. "Don't worry. I created an advanced simulator that she can use to train."

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow." Madoka rolled her eyes and grumbled when Ichika smirked at her.

"Well, I'll take my leave. It's almost curfew." Rin said standing up and walking to the door. "Good night."

"Sweet dreams Rin-Rin!"

* * *

"Hazuki's really are the best."

"Really? I thought they were all for show."

"But they look great."

"Murray's seem like the most functional, specially their smooth model."

"Oh yeah, that one is nice but pricey."

It was a regular Monday morning with the girls doing what they do as per their norm. Chattering loudly with the addition of passing around a catalogue trading their opinions.

'_So damn normal.'_ You'd expect an institute like IS Academy- the so called school of elites- would have truly extraordinary students. But sadly, only a rare few met the expectations of an outsider's point of view.

"Where did you get your IS suit, Ichika-kun? I've never seen that kind before."

"Hmm? My suit? I made it myself. I also made Madoka's one." Ichika nonchalantly answered.

"Ohhh!"

"That's so cool!"

"Ne? Ne? Can you create one for me? Please?"

Madoka dryly looked at Ichika who grimaced in realization of his mistake.

"Sorry, but I can't." He simply answered apologetically.

"Aww~"

"That's too bad~"

"There goes my dream of being molested by him."

Ichika sputtered in indignation and Madoka coughed in an attempt to refrain herself from laughing.

'_Do you want me to be arrested or what?!'_

"IS suits sense the subtle electrical charges carried by the skin, and directly convey the pilot's movements to each part of the IS which can then maneuver as required." Yamada-sensei said entering the class.

'_Were you eavesdropping or what?'_

"The suits are also designed with durability in mind and they'll completely stop most small-caliber handgun rounds; however it won't protect you from the impact."

'_Well news flash! My one, nee-san's one and Madoka's ones can completely stop a point blank high caliber shotgun round _and _absorb the shock from point of impact.'_ The absorbed shock would then be added to the energy of the IS. Convenient, right? _'Except that no one goes around asking to be shot.'_

"You know everything, Yamster!"

'_Yamada + Hamster= Yamster. Heh…'_

Yamada-sensei smiled. "Well, I _am_ a teacher…" her smile fell replaced by a confused expression. "…wait… did you just call me Yamster?!"

"Oh! I meant Yamapi!"

"Well, today is the first day you can order your own suits. So I had to be prepared you know? And did you just call me Yamapi?"

'_Only two months and you've already got over eight nicknames. Way to go Yamster.'_ Ichika snickered internally.

"Eto…you're not supposed to give your teachers nicknames…"

"Why not?"

'_Because it's rude?'_

"Because I'd rather you didn't…"

'_Don't mumble like that Yamster. They'll keep picking at you.'_

"Oh? Then would you prefer Mayamaya then Mayamaya?"

"Not really, just…"

"Then would you like to change it back to Yamaya?"

It seemed that today's the day of full blown teasing (bullying) of Yamada-sensei.

"Please just stop it now!"

Ichika blinked. _'Huh?'_ It was rare for the sweet, soft, gentle and meek Yamada-sensei to be _this _insistent. Not like it was the first time either that Yamada-sensei seemed to react badly to 'Yamaya' in particular. _'Okay, this has gone too far.'_ He stood up and faced the class. "Okay enough of this!" The whole class fell silent as all eyes landed on him.

"Orimura-kun…"

Ichika didn't have to look back to know that Yamada-sensei's eyes were brimming with tears of gratefulness.

"As your class rep I order you to stop bullying Yamada-sensei!"

Madoka doubled over biting her lip to not laugh out loud.

"O-Orimura-kun… _*sniffle*"_

"…but we weren't…"

"…yeah! We're only expressing our fondness of her!"

"…how is giving her a nickname out of fondness equivalent to bullying?"

Ichika blankly stared at them for several seconds making them squirm. "Would you kick a puppy and laugh?" He finally asked. The reaction was exactly what he expected.

"OF COURSE NOT!"

"THEY'RE TOO PRECIOUS AND ADORABLE!"

"THEY ARE INNOCENCE GIVEN MANIFESTATION!"

In response Ichika only crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. It took a few seconds for the girls to realize what he meant.

"Oh." They collectively said before standing up, faced Yamada-sensei and bowed at 90 degrees. "WE'RE SORRY YAMADA-SENSEI! WE'LL NEVER BULLY YOU AGAIN! PLEASE FORGIVE US!"

Madoka's laughter was drowned by the loud apology of the entire class.

Yamada-sensei had a bright blush on her face and slightly panicked. "Wawawa… please stop! Stop! It's okay! You don't have to bow! A simple apology is enough!"

"THANK YOU YAMADA-SENSEI!"

Outside the class, Chifuyu could only _stare _at the scene before her. She massaged her temples and sighed. _'I really need a drink right now… should I take the class or skip it? Argh…so annoying!'_ She caught her brother's eye and sighed again, _'Class it is.'_

"Good morning, class." Chifuyu walked into the class wearing her usual strict and cold mask.

"GOOD MORNING!"

In just the blink of an eye the lively class turned into a strict drill formation. Chifuyu Orimura has arrived!

'_Hmm? Isn't that the suit she had me bring over?' _Ichika noted that she was wearing the suit she had asked him to bring over for summer yesterday. The suit was the same, except that it was light grey instead of black.

'_Hmm… after the tournament we'd start wearing our summer uniforms too wouldn't we?'_

"We'll be conducting live-fire drills starting today. The IS you're using may be a trainer but it still is an IS nonetheless. Stay on your toes and don't forget your school issued IS suit until your own one arrives. If you've forgotten to bring yours, then you'll have to complete the drills either in your school swimsuit or underwear. _No one will care_. Am I understood?"

"YES MA'AM!" was the enthusiastic response.

'_Pretty sure I would care!'_ Ichika thought distraughtly.

"Now Yamada-sensei, if you'd take over the homeroom please."

Yamada-sensei started like a puppy when Chifuyu called out to her and hurriedly placed her glasses that she was cleaning back on her nose.

"Eto… today we're having not one but two transfer students to introduce!"

'_Huh?'_

"Eh?"

"Ehhhhh?!"

The class broke into whispers immediately talking about rumors spreading around and what not.

Ichika rolled his eyes in annoyance. Teenagers- mostly girls in general- fed off on rumors. The three meals a day simply an afterthought. _'But why are they in my class? Isn't it normal to spread them around?'_

The door opened and two figures walked in, both of opposite genders. A boy and a girl. The former, as expected caused gasps to be released. The latter made Madoka sigh in resigned annoyance while Ichika merely raised an eyebrow.

He knew the girl of course, having met her last year in Germany to attach Tabane's latest invention, the AIC into her freshly made IS Unit **Schwarz Regen**. He also had to fix the problem of the _Odin's Eye_ her and the others of her unit shared. Since then she and the rest of her unit took to calling him "Doctor Orimura".

She was Laura Bodewig, a beautiful girl with long shimmering silver hair that was almost pure white. She was pale and stood at a height that was shorter than average for girls her age. She wore a black old school eyepatch over her left eye and her single uncovered eye was a bright flaming red exuding anything but warmth. Her sharp and chill aura combined with her posture clearly made her appear like a soldier- which she already was one. She stood ramrod straight with her feet slightly wide apart and arms crossed above her waist behind her. She roamed her eye over every single student and gave acknowledging nods to both Ichika and Madoka.

The corners of Ichika's lips twitched up and he nodded back at her.

"I'm Charles Dunois from France. Please bear with me as I adjust to life in Japan." The 'boy' introduced himself politely with a friendly face with androgynous features. His hair was a beautiful shade of honey blonde loosely tied behind his neck. His body was lithe, almost fragile with slender legs.

"Are…are you a boy?"

'_No, he's a trans.'_ Ichika sarcastically thought. Of course this 'Charles' wasn't a boy. 'He' lacked the Adam's apple every single males had, moreover when he waved at everyone, Ichika noticed that his palm was too small and fingers too slim. He was also breathing constrictively obviously having wrapped something tightly over her breasts to _flatten_ them.

His eyes met those of Chifuyu's and the slightest narrowing of her eyes made him click his tongue in annoyance.

'Charles' smiled. "Yes! I heard that Professor Orimura was in the same situation, so of course-" Before the poor thing could continue, the whole class squealed loud enough to shatter the windows and sound barrier.

"A boy! Another boy!"

"And he's in our class!"

"He's so adorable! I just want to spoil him!"

"I'm so glad I was born on earth!"

'_Where else would you be born on? Mars? Venus? Saturn? The non-existent Pluto?'_ Ichika sarcastically thought rubbing his ringing ears. 'Charles' and Madoka also copying him. Laura stood unflinchingly.

He could _feel _their thirst rolling off of them in waves. Thank god it was homeroom that no one, neighboring class or seniors came by to take a peek.

"ENOUGH!" Chifuyu roared making 'Charles' and Yamada-sensei jump in shock. "QUIET!" Pin drop silence graced everyone with its presence. Chifuyu's scowl spoke volumes of her annoyance. She seemed to be more annoyed at the girls' reaction instead of the girls themselves. "We've got another introduction to make, so shut up and sit still!"

Funny enough Laura stared at Chifuyu in something akin to hero worshipping, not that Ichika was surprised considering his older sister- two times Mondo Grosso champion and "Brunhilde"- was the 'Symbol of Strength' for women across the globe. What made it funny was the fact that Chifuyu looked uncomfortable under her gaze, not like anyone but him and Madoka noticed.

"Introduce yourself… Laura."

"Yes instructor!" Laura nodded and stood at attention finishing off with a salute making the class' jaw collectively hit the ground.

Chifuyu's face twisted into a slightly different grimace at that. "Don't respond to me like that here. I'm not your superior officer here and you're a civilian student here. Refer to me as Orimura-sensei, and stop laughing Orimura!" Chifuyu said the last part to the twins who had a hand over their mouth to refrain themselves from laughing.

"Understood." With that Laura returned her saluting arm to the side, brought her heels to the side and straightened her back. "I am Laura Bodewig." The class as a whole except the twins leaned forward in expectation.

'_Wait for it…'_ The twins thought biting their lips to hold back their laughter.

"That's all."

The whole class face faulted and the twins laughed.

"Umm… anything else…?" Yamada-sensei kindly prompted with a smile receiving only harsh acknowledgement.

"None." Plain and simple.

The bell rang. Chifuyu sighed and clapped her hands loudly. "Alright! Homeroom is over! Get changed and meet up at the second arena. We'll be conducting a joint mock combat exercise with class 1-2." She then looked at Ichika as he stood up and said, "Ichika, since the two of you are boys, you'll show Dunois what to do."

Ichika frowned but nodded before signaling 'Charles' to follow him.

"Ah, Professor Orimura! A pleasure to meet you!" 'Charles' brightly smiled at him. "I'm Charles Dunois!"

Ichika politely smiled. "I'd like to say it's the same but sadly…" He grabbed his hand and got the desired reaction of the widening of eyes and the dusting of red across her cheeks. _'First hint found.'_ He thought with an internal grin. "…we'll be swarmed by girls if we don't hurry!" Without a warning Ichika ran at borderline superhuman speed making 'Charles' flap behind him.

"WAHHHHHH!" 'Charles' girlishly screamed in fright as he flapped like a flag above ground with the pole being Ichika.

"Sorry! If we don't hurry then…"

Before he could finish a big horde of girls, seniors and otherwise from all classes gathered on the first floor.

"There he is! Rumored transf-"

Before the poor girl could continue, Ichika rammed through all of them like bowling ball against pins sending them flying and crashing into the walls.

'_Like a wreeeeeecking ball!'_

"I'm not sorry!" He yelled out and zoomed out of the school building and made it into the locker room of the second arena. He stopped abruptly and 'Charles' slammed on to his back with a meaty thwack. "Ah, I'm sorry about _that_." He apologetically said to the wheezing 'boy' on the ground looking pale like a ghost.

"Th-Th-Th-Th-That was s-sca-scary!" 'Charles' cried out with a hand placed on 'his' chest over the heart.

"Yeah… sorry about that, didn't have much of a choice…"

"W-Wh-Why?"

"You and I are the only boys in this entire academy. To the girls, we might as well be 'mysteries' that needs to delved _deep_ into."

"A-Ah, that makes sense…"

"Anyway, let's change or Orimura-sensei will scream our ears out!" Without any warning Ichika came out of his uniform revealing his muscular Adonis like body to 'Charles' before donning his IS suit.

"Eep!" 'Charles' squeaked and turned around unintentionally giving off another hint about his gender.

"Did you leave something behind?" Ichika pretended to not notice the squeak. "Hurry up! You don't want an angry Orimura-sensei on your heels do you?"

"N-No! J-Just turn around and look the other way, please!"

"Huh? Why? It's not like you're a girl right?" A flinch marked the third hint. "Ohhhh! Let me guess…" 'Charles' gulped with fearful eyes marking the fourth hint. "…you've been mistaken for a girl because of your effeminate appearance, so you're shy about revealing yourself right?"

'Charles' sighed in relief and meekly nodded. "Y-Yes! Now please…"

"Okay!" Ichika turned around and waited as he heard the shuffling of clothes and a zipping sound.

"D-Done…"

"You sure change fast, don't you?" Ichika offhandedly commented turning around and taking a good look at 'his' suit. "Nice suit by the way."

"Oh this?" 'He' looked down at his suit. "It's a custom order design by the Dunois Enterprise based on the Phalanx."

"Ah, that means Albert Dunois is your father!" Ichika said and narrowed his eyes when a sad smile settled on 'his' face.

"Yeah." 'Charles' weakly agreed before brightening up. "Your suit is great too Professor Orimura! Did you make it yourself?"

'Professor Orimura'. That's what he was called in the IS industries.

"Yeah. Though the scales and all that came after undergoing First Shift." His IS suit was a full body jumpsuit or spandex colored mostly blueish silver. After undergoing First Shift, golden scales were added to his spine (it also doubled as the zipper), the sides of his body, limbs and neck. "And stop calling me 'Professor'. Just call me 'Ichika' like everyone does."

'Charles's eyes shone. "Really?! That's great!" Now 'he' was looking at him with the very same hero worshipping eyes that Laura gave to Chifuyu. "…I get to call my idol by his first name…!" 'He' almost silently mumbled unaware of the fact that Ichika heard 'him'.

Ichika blushed and could only let out a "Huh?"

"Err…nothing! Let's go Ichika!" Now 'Charles' was the one to grab him by the hand and lead him into the second arena.

"You're late!" They were a moment too late and ended up facing the demon with its arms folded.

'_Did she want a beatstick? Really, when you write it out, it looks like a brand name for something. Beatstick, by Dr-'_

"If you have time to stand around thinking worthless things, then you have time to get in line!"

_***BAM!***_

'_There goes 5000 of my brain cells.'_ Ichika thought not bothering to dodge the clipboard as it would've hit 'Charles' instead. "This is child abuse! Someone call the police!"

_***BAM!***_

"Shut up and get in line!"

"…the world is so unfair…"

"You sure took your time." Cecilia said as Ichika stood in line with Charles. Cecilia had improved quite a lot under the tutelage of the twins and with the recent addition of Rin made both representative candidates compete with each other. "Why did it take you so long to just get changed?"

"Imagine yourself being the only girl in an all-boys school being chased around to get a good look at you head to toe."

"Ew!"

"Sorry, that was a wrong thing to say." Madoka snorted hearing Ichika's apology recognizing the altered meme.

Cecilia's IS suit was a blue standard women's model resembling an one piece swimsuit as showing more skin allowed the pilot to move more freely. Madoka's IS suit was also similar but black in color with white snowflakes. The shield barrier of IS provided enough defense for the suit to be flimsy. But Ichika didn't want to take any chances. So he made a shock absorbing suit for all three of the Orimura siblings strong enough to stop a point blank high caliber shotgun round.

"It was getting crowded here."

"And I being here does the opposite?"

"Well, err, no…uhh…"

"What did you do now Ichika?" Ichika turned around and saw Rin's class standing behind his with said person in the front wearing a pink and black IS suit.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because you're an idiot?"

"Don't worry, there are two idiots right here in front of me." Chifuyu said popping out of thin air startling Rin and Cecilia before her clipboard claimed its victims under the wide blue sky.

"Beginning today, we'll be doing both had-to-hand combat and marksmanship exercises." Chifuyu said standing in front of both classes 1-1 and 1-2.

"YES MA'AM!"

Due to this being a joint class exercise, the number of students was twice the usual, not to mention the two new additions, thus making the response livelier.

"Ugh…hitting someone on the head on the least pretext…"

"It's all Ichika's fault…"

Cecilia and Rin grumbled rubbing their heads.

'_How so?'_

"We'll be conducting combat exercises today and since you girls are quite _energetic_ today… Huang! Alcott! You will be the victims today!"

'_You freaking sadist…'_

"Why me?" Cecilia cried.

"We'll be starting immediately with those who have their own Personal IS. So step forward."

Throwing a last glare at Ichika Rin followed Cecilia to summon there is.

"Consider this a test to see how the two of you have improved under the tutelage of Orimura."

"And who am I to compete with? I certainly wouldn't mind it being Rin-san."

"Well, well, well! I could say the same. This time I _will _take you down."

"Be quiet you idiots! Your opponent will be-"

"KYAAAA! Look out!"

A familiar voice screamed heading towards Ichika.

"Huh?" Ichika looked to the side and slightly up to see a green IS coming towards him. His eyes widened as he realized it was going to crash into him and barely managed to summon his IS before the inevitable crash happened.

_***BOOOM! CRASH!***_

The two tumbled several meters throwing up dust clouds and wide long trench marks making the students scamper around.

When the dust settled down, gasps rang out and camera flashed from the hands of a laughing Madoka repeatedly saying, "Blackmail material!"

The reason?

Yamada-sensei in her IS, a **Raphael Revive Basic** was on top of Ichika in his **Golden Dragon Monarch**. That in itself wasn't that noteworthy. What caused the gasps and Madoka's photo session was the scene of Ichika and Yamada-sensei kissing _lip-to-lip_ all the while with the former's bare hands on the plump squishy butt of the latter.

_***SQUISH***_

Ichika's hands instinctively squeezed Yamada-sensei's butt cheeks eliciting a moan out of her to himself through the connection of their lips. "Mmh!"

The girls squealed. Charles, Cecilia and Rin collectively blushed. Laura _stared_. Madoka rolled on the ground laughing hysterically. Chifuyu's face twisted in a scowl of displeasure.

"HOW LONG DO YOU PLAN ON SUCKING EACH OTHER'S FACES?!" Chifuyu's roar made both Ichika and Yamada-sensei leap off of each other facing the opposite directions with red faces.

'_Holy shit! We kissed! We freaking kissed!'_ Ichika thought with a rapidly beating heart and red face.

Yamada-sensei on the other hand…

"Ah! No! Orimura-kun~ we can't do that here… no! That's not the problem! You and I are student and teacher! But… I suppose there _is_ an appeal to being Orimura-sensei's sister-in-law… kyaa~!"

…she was in her own world. She was blushing, had her hands on her cheeks trying to hide not only her red face but the small smile too.

Chifuyu was doing breathing exercises to keep her temper in check. _'Calm down, me! Calm down! Don't get angry! Don't! Get! Angry!'_

Ichika looked back at Yamada-sensei and let his eyes roam over her body for a moment before turning around red in the face. _'Dammit! I knew she was sexy, what with those big boobs, wide hips and all, but… this… this way beyond what I imagined! This is Plus Ultra!'_ He crouched low and hid his face into his knees. _'AHHH! WHAT DO I DO?! Will I have to take responsibility for taking her first kiss or what? There's also the fact that I groped her ass (and don't they look delicious!)!'_

After observing everything for a few seconds Cecilia muttered, "Maybe I was right about this place being a circus?"

Rin felt inclined to agree but didn't say anything.

'Charles' approached Ichika and tapped his shoulder. "Umm, Ichika? Are you alright?"

"…yeah. Just… give me a moment…" After performing several breathing exercise, Ichika stood back to his full height and towered over the shorter than average 'Charles'. "I'm good."

'Charles' flashed him a smile and stood by his side.

"Now Alcott! Huang!" Chifuyu called out snapping everyone's attention to her. "The two of you will be facing Yamada-sensei in a two-on-one mock battle."

"What? Two-on-one?"

"Are you sure about this?"

Chifuyu grinned. "Don't worry. You'll lose quickly enough. Yamada-sensei may not look like it but she is a former Representative Candidate for Japan."

Yamada-sensei blushed and adjusted her tilted glass with both hands returning back to her normal self. "W-Well… that was a long ago, and I never made it past a candidate…"

"Anyway girls, enough gawking. Let's do this!"

At the signal, both Cecilia and Rin leapt to the skies with Yamada-sensei following opposite to them.

"I won't hold back!" Cecilia exclaimed aiming her sniper rifle at Yamada-sensei.

"As if I went all out last time!" Rin shouted.

"H-Here I come!" Yamada-sensei said with a stutter but sounded cold and calculative.

Cecilia and Rin stroke first but they were easily dodged.

"Dunois. Tell us about Yamada-sensei's IS." Chifuyu ordered not taking her eyes off the battle.

"The IS Yamada-sensei is using is **Raphael Revive Basic** made by the Dunois Enterprise. While it was the last 2nd generation IS to be developed, its specs are comparable…" Ichika knew it was rude to tune 'Charles' out but he already knew how **Raphael Revive Basic** worked. In fact, he could make it even better than it already is, enough to make it a 3.5th gen IS or close. So while 'Charles' explained about the IS, Ichika paid close attention to the battle.

He was disappointed to say the least. Instead of the match being a two-on-one battle, it turned into a triple threat as Rin and Cecilia kept on competing with each other with zero synergy; thus often ending up hurting each other instead of Yamada-sensei.

Unlike the squabbling representative candidates, Yamada-sensei was calm and focused with a cold and calculative look in her eyes, completely opposite of her usual meek, soft, innocent and kind ditzy self. It did not help that her _melons_ were bouncing and honestly…

'_That's so hot…'_ Ichika internally admitted with a soft blush on his face, one that did not go unnoticed by Madoka. She grinned and took a snapshot of his face, glazed eyes, blush and lightly gaping mouth.

'_Sweet blackmail material kukuku…!'_

"Thank you. That's enough for now. It's over anyway." Chifuyu's voice snapped Ichika out of his daze and true to her words, the match did come to an end.

A shot from Yamada-sensei forced Cecilia to dodge into Rin in a collision. The two were then hit by a grenade from her and from the smoke of the explosion, those two fell to earth.

"Ugh, I can't believe I, of all people, lost…" Cecilia groaned out dismissing her IS.

"You got read like a book." Rin dryly stated successfully getting a rise out of Cecilia.

"And you didn't?! You're not supposed to fire your impact cannon aimlessly in the air!"

"I could say the same thing! Why did you launch your BITs so soon? And you run out of energy so fast!"

"Grrrr…!"

"Hssss…!"

The two of them kept on growling and hissing until the girls from both classes practically gasped in laughter.

'_I can hear the whoosh of the reputation of having our own IS fall, and sadly there's no circuit breaker…'_ Ichika thought with a grimace.

"I believe we've established the competence of our instructors at the IS academy, then. Be sure to show proper respect in the future."

"OKAY!"

With a clap, Chifuyu brought everyone back to attention. "Orimura, Alcott, Dunois, Bodewig and Huang. Since you have your own IS, split into groups of nine and ten led by that list. Understood? Get to it."

"Okay!"

As soon as Chifuyu was finished speaking, 'Charles' and Ichika got buried under the girls from both classes.

"Let's do our best Ichika!"

"Show me how to do this!"

"I want to see how you pilot Dunois!"

"Hey! Hey! Pick me for your group!"

As expected, they were vibrantly enthusiastic. All Ichika and 'Charles' could do was simply stand and wonder what to do.

With frustration of her own judgement and exasperation at their pace, Chifuyu rubbed her forehead and growled. "These idiots… Group up! Rotate groups one by one in alphabetical order like I told you before! The next one to hold things up does 100 laps with IS on her back!"

Immediately in two minutes flat, the girls skittered apart like spiders and formed groups around each Personal IS users fearful of Chifuyu's wrath.

"You idiots should've done that to begin with." Chifuyu said with a sigh.

"And why aren't _you _actively participating despite having a Personal IS yourself, Orimura-sensei?" Ichika drawled out.

Chifuyu smirked. "For learning experience of both the students and Personal IS owners."

"Che."

The girls of each group whispered amongst themselves to avoid being overheard by Chifuyu.

"Yay! I'm in the same group as Ichika! I'm glad I have my name!"

"Ugh, Cecilia? After she just lost her fight like that…_*sigh*_"

"Let's do this, Huang! Oh, hey, can I ask you something about Madoka later?"

"Dunois! If there's anything you need explained, just ask! By the way, I'm single!"

"…"

"_*sigh*_ hey Laura, lets's just do this together or there won't be any progress in your group…" Madoka said mixing members of her group with Laura's. Laura's group was simply quiet because of her oppressive and cold intimidating aura, so Madoka took pity on that group.

Laura simply grunted. "Very well Madoka."

Madoka could only sigh. _'I really feel sorry for these girls…'_ She glanced at the eyepatch and asked, "Still haven't gotten the _Odin's Eye_ fixed?" To her surprise, a pleased look flashed on Laura's face.

"Yes we have." She jerked her head at Ichika's direction and continued, "Doctor Orimura fixed it when he came to install a new feature in my IS last year."

Madoka's eyebrows shot into her hairline. "'Doctor Orimura'?" She knew that Ichika was called "Professor Orimura" around the world but "Doctor Orimura" was something she didn't know or rather Ichika himself didn't tell her or Chifuyu about it. "Since when did he become a doctor?"

Laura blinked. "But he _is_ a doctor. He operated on me and the rest of us to install the perfected _Odin's Eye_." She shrugged. "All of us in our unit call him 'Doctor Orimura'."

Hearing that, Madoka glanced at Ichika and realized that neither she nor Chifuyu knew a lot about their one and only brother.

'_What else are you hiding from us onii-chan?'_

* * *

"Listen up everyone! For this exercise each group will get to choose one trainer IS. We have three **Uchigane**s and three **Revive**s. Discuss among yourselves which one your group would like, but remember! They are first-come first-served!"

Ichika was impressed. Yamada-sensei was three to five times serious today. _'It's likely that the mock battle has brought back her confidence.'_ She looked like a woman who could get things done standing boldly and imposingly, except that the glasses and her big green doe eyes ruined it. Though one part of her _did_ manage to look imposing and… it was the swell of her ample bosom larger than any other student present in the field. _'They are at least 1.5 times bigger than nee-san's, if not, twice.'_ His eyes- much to his shame- were drawn to her dangling breasts that shifted like melons as her forearms rubbed against them.

'_Am I an ass-man or boob-man?'_ His eyes then lowered to her thighs and gulped. _'Or a thigh-man?'_

* * *

Chifuyu was not a good older sister, neither was she the best role model. She may seem "perfect" and she may be the epitome of strength; however in reality, she was neither. And Chifuyu knew these facts.

Most people would say that she's the best older sister one could ever hope to be or have, in fact her siblings would say the same; but she knew better.

Being an older sibling was not only about making sure your younger siblings were well taken care of. No, that was just taking responsibility of them and doing the duties of the eldest. An older sibling must love his/her younger siblings, show them his/her appreciation of their existence, praise them, _and be proud of them_.

Chifuyu simply took responsibility of them and carried out her duties as the eldest in the family after their parent's untimely demise. She hardly was home and practically forced them to raise themselves, or more appropriately, Ichika raising Madoka despite being a few minutes older. She loved them- that much she knew as she was willing to kill anyone who _dared_ to think of harming them- but she hardly expressed it. She hardly smiled at them, always acting strict and cold with them. Whenever they accomplished something, she would just nod and say, "You could've done better."

She was proud of them but unfortunately she was never capable of expressing it. She never once told them, "I'm proud of you two" or anything similar to that. Heck, she was willing to bet Tabane was a better sister compared to her, as its very proof was a smiling Ichika, ever since he was taken under her wing.

She also wasn't the best role model. She was strict, cold and short-tempered. Yes she excelled at everything. Yes she did everything perfectly down to the T. However, that didn't necessarily mean she was the best role model. If people were to follow in her footsteps, then they'd hardly have the chance to be happy. That wasn't to say she was unhappy. No, she was _satisfied_, because her younger siblings had the chance to be happy, _make friends_ and get well educated. They had bright futures ahead of them, Ichika more so than Madoka.

She was perfect in everyone's eyes, yet she wasn't. If she was perfect then she wouldn't be the woman she was today. She was simply hard working, not a perfectionist- at least that's what she believed. She was a perfectionist and that was what got her admirers and haters from both gender. To them, she was simply "unapproachable". She was divinity and otherworldly, simply out of their reach.

She was the women's epitome of strength. That was something she did not wish to achieve. She simply wanted to be strong enough to protect her younger siblings. They were after all, her world. If anything were to happen to them… she'd never forgive herself.

She did everything she could to give them an easy life. She always stayed away from them, keeping herself busy.

Yes she spent plenty of time training them, but it was just that- training. She taught them everything she knew and more. And now, as she stood in the sidelines watching her two younger siblings carry out their task flawlessly and perfectly- admittedly Ichika better than Madoka- she couldn't help but wonder…

'_How much do I even know about them? How much do they know about _me_?'_

Now that she thought about it, she never sat down with them together and asked them about their day like any normal family did she? And as sad as it sounded, she _knew_ Tabane was more aware of her siblings' life than she was herself.

This long thought process came to her like a slap to the face when she heard Madoka and Laura's conversation about Ichika.

"_Doctor Orimura fixed it when he came to install a new feature in my IS last year." _

"'_Doctor Orimura'?_ _Since when did he become a doctor?"_

"_But he _is_ a doctor. He operated on me and the rest of us to install the perfected _Odin's Eye_. All of us in our unit call him 'Doctor Orimura'."_

She did not know her brother was a doctor- one that was capable of operations. While she knew her brother was known as "Professor Orimura" around the globe, that info itself was third party information that she learnt about during her jobs.

"_Ah! You must be the Brunhilde and Professor Orimura's older sister Chifuyu Orimura! It's a great honor to meet you, the two times Mondo Grosso champion!"_

"_Hey! Hey! Isn't that Professor Orimura's older sister?"_

"_Yeah! She's also the two times Mondo Grosso champion! The Brunhilde!"_

Before she knew it, her brother had surpassed her in fame. In fact, he became a millionaire before her despite her rather high paying jobs.

And now she heard that he was a doctor, in what department she did not know. But thinking back on it, she recalled seeing many books and notebooks of Physics, Chemistry and Biology in his room when he was _10_, a couple of months before the second Mondo Grosso. She had summed it up to him attempting to do better than his classmates. Never in her life did she expect him to be a doctor at the ripe age of _14_.

Did he even have a certificate? Tabane herself was a doctor too, so Chifuyu wouldn't really be surprised if Tabane helped him become a certified doctor. But that's not the main question. The main question was…

'_Why did he rush for these accomplishments instead of taking his time?'_

Only questions after questions came to her mind as response. Chifuyu sighed and messaged her temples.

Hearing commotion she searched for it and almost smiled but settled for a frown seeing a flustered Yamada-sensei and a red Ichika, both refusing to meet each other's eyes.

'_They're acting like two shy teenagers.'_ One in fact was _not_ a teenager. As she stalked towards the commotion, she couldn't help but debate between laughing and scowling hearing the conversation.

"O-Orim-mura-kun?" Chifuyu noted in amusement how Yamada-sensei turned to look at her brother, blushing red and trembling with arms wrapped around her body. Her voice was quivering too and Chifuyu didn't know whether to find Ichika's reaction cute and adorable or laughably infuriating. "Were… were you looking…?"

Her brother stammered in shame and hesitantly answered, "Uhh…yes, I'm sorry…" Aww poor thing now hung his head low.

"Well, er… I understand that as a boy of your age it's only natural, but you really shouldn't do that because of our age difference and roles." Chifuyu had to admit, Yamada-sensei looked adorable trying to scold (albeit as gentle as a mother) and guide her brother what with her doe eyed look and all. "But, err… I'm…" Okay, her time to intervene has come. "…rather glad you noticed, but really-"

"What are you doing Yamada-sensei?" Chifuyu asked with palm to her brow pretending to be exhausted.

"Orimura-sensei?!" Yamada-sensei squeaked rather adorably. "This was just… uhh… I mean, err…"

"Just…" she raised a hand to stop her. "…Explain later after we are done with this. For now…" she sighed for the nth time. "…help with Dunois's group. They are falling behind. Could you give them a hand?"

"O-Of course!" Yamada-sensei relied and walked away, but not before sending a… _longing_ look back to her brother, as if she was enjoying their session.

After a few seconds Chifuyu blankly looked at her brother and stared.

"W-What?"

Chifuyu wanted to interro-err ask her brother about his doctorate but now wasn't the time. Instead she opted to revert back to her drill sergeant persona.

"What are you gawking at you idiot? Get moving!"

She ignored his eye roll as he scoffed, "Yes instructor~!"

She shook her head and proceeded to observe and bellow out orders for the rest of the morning.

* * *

"That's enough for this morning! This afternoon, we'll be covering maintenance of the IS you used, so each group should assemble in the appropriate hangar. If you have your own, make sure that you also observe its maintenance. Dismissed!"

As soon as Chifuyu dismissed them, Ichika turned to 'Charles' and said, "Oh well. Charles, let's get changed. Remember, we have to go all the way to the arena's locker room."

"Oh, I have to make a few tweak to my IS. You can go on ahead, this may take a while."

'_So you're stupid enough to say that to _me_ of all people?'_

"You sure? I can help if you want."

'Charles' seemed to have realized his mistake and flailed his arms. "No! No! No! It's okay! I can do it myself! Please don't bother yourself with it Professor!"

Ichika raised an eyebrow. That added another hint but, since he used "Professor" this time, he should give him space. "Alright. I'll meet you in the classroom then."

"Uhh… okay!"

Ichika nodded and left 'Charles' to his devices.


End file.
